The sea-side book : being an introduction to the natural history of the British coasts

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH

Darlington -Memorial LiLrary

THE

SEA-SIDE BOOK.

oil, what an endlesse -worke have I in haaid.

To count the Sea's abixndant progeny !
Whose fruitfulle seede farre passeth those in laod.

And also those which wonne in the azure sky.

For niuch more eath to tell the starres on hy,
Albe they endless seem in estimation.

Then to recount the Sea's posterity;
So fei*tile be the flouds in generation.
So huge iheir numbers, and so numberless their nation."

Spfnsbr.

THE

SEA-SIDE BOOK;

BEING

AN INTRODUCTION TO
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH COASTS.

BY

W. H. HARVEY, M.D., M.RI.A,,

' LONDON-BBIDGE " ROCK AT TORQUAY.

NEW EDITION.

LONDON:
JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW.

M.DCCC.XLIX.

LONDON :
Printed by S. and J. BENTt,F.T and Hknrv Fi.ey,
Bangor House^ Shoe Lane

JOHN TODHUNTER, .Tun.,

OF DUBLIN,

Cfjcs iltttlc l3ootc is lielricateli

BY

HIS AFFECTIONATE UNCLE,

THE AUTHOR.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

" London Bridge" Rock at Tokqcat On Title Page.

Oratory op S. Piran in the Sands 1

Shrimp and Prawn Catchers 21

DuNUN Sandpipers 23

Egg of Shark 31

BncciNiTM undatuh and Nest 32

Purpura Lapillus and Eggs 33

Natica monilifera 33

FlUSTRA FQLIACEA 44

Alctonium uigitatum 47

ToR-ABBEr Rocks and Headland, with Beert-head in the distance 52

Root op Laminaria 53

Ulva crispa 60

CODIUM tomentosum 60

Betopsis plumosa 61

ClADOPHOEA HUTCHINSI.a; 62

LiCHINA PTGM.a;A AND CONFINIS 68

Padina pavonia 70

Grippithsia coeallina 72

Poltsiphoni^ parasitica 73

COEALWNA officinalis 76

Actinia bellis 78

Actinia, or Sea Anemones 79

Egg of Sponge 83

COETNE PUSILLA AND MAGNIFIED PORTION 87

SEKTULAEIA FILICULA and MAGNIFIED PORTION 89

PLUMDLAEIA CRISTATA and MAGNIFIED VESICLE 90

Cartophtllea Smithii 93

luceenaria auricula 94

Various Species of Leprali2B, magnified 96

Appendage of Cellularia 97

boteyllus 99

Shell feom Lycia, e. f 103

PHOLAS CANDIDA 104

Limpet's Tongue 107

ANCCLA CRISTATA 108

Chiton marginatus and fascicularis 109

Nassa reticulata 112

Dredging 116

Vlll LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS.

Naturalist's Dbedge Page 117

Drag ". _ 119

NuiiiPOiiES 121

Pianaria vittata '. . .• ' 123

Serpula 128

Pentacrinus Europeus 134

Pedicellari^ : 144

ThTONE PAPItlOSA 149

Virgularia mirabiiis ' 152

ZoEA OP THE Crab 165

Iceberg, with Seascape 168

isthmia obliquata 171

licmophora elabellata 172

L AGENiE 180

botalia beccabii and poltstomella crispa 181

Berob 189

Veieiia 191

MEDUs.a; Buds in various stages 195

YOUHG OF MEDUS.a; FORMIHG 197

SALPA RUHCINATA, in its free and ASSOCIATED STATES 199

Sea Birds 203

Horned Poppt 205

Salicorkia herbacea 208

Glaux maritima 209

Storm Petrel 231

Pentelasmis anatifera 232

Young Cirrhipode, magnified 234

limnoria terebrans 237

ChELUEA TEREBRANS 237

Marine Grapes 239

For a more detailed History of the Subjects comprised in tliis Volume the
Keader is referred to the folio-wing Works : —

Mr. Yarrell's History of British Birds, and his History of British Fishes. —
Professor Bell's History of British Crustacea. — Professor Edward Forbes
History of British Starfishes, ct'c. — Professor E. Forbes and Me. Hanley's
British Mollvsca.—Dn. Johnston's History of British Zoophytes, and his His-
tory of British Sponges, &c. — Messes. Alder and Hancock's Nudibranchiate
Mollusca. — Professor Haevet's Phycologia BrUannica, or his Manual of
British Meirine Algcv. — Professor A nbted's Geology. — Professor Rtmer Jones'
General Outline of the Animal Kingdom, and the First Volume of his Natund
History of Animals. — SiE John G. Daliell's Rare and Remarkable Animals of
Scotland.

ORA.TORY OF 3T, PIRAN IN THE SANDS

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

See page 10.

It is scarcely more than a century since the several
sciences to which we apply the general name of Natural
History, began to rouse themselves from a sleep into
which they had fallen nearly two thousand years before.
The middle ages of Natural History are peculiarly the
dark ages, and the darkness was dense as it was long.
Throughout this long period observers were scarce ; theo-
risers and commentators, critics of subjects which they
could not comprehend, were numerous; and the body
of naturalists occupied themselves in specious dreams.
Here and there, like the flashes which cheer the dark-
ness of the polar winter, noble minds rose above their

B

3 FANCIFUL SYSTEMS.

fellows to declare the truths which they had observed or
discovered ; but such lights were rare, and soon put
aside — they could not be extinguished — by the race over
which a busy dulness reigned supreme.

The writers of the middle ages had built up in their
own minds a perfect system, as it was supposed; and
this they imagined to be the system of the universe. In-
stead, therefore, of seeking out, by patient observation,
the facts of Nature, and reasoning upon them, they em-
ployed themselves in cutting down to their own notions
of propriety every fact which seemed to contradict what
the schoolmen considered a law of Nature. A glaring
instance of such prejudiced explanation is found in the
theories gravely put forward by learned men to explain
the existence of organic fossils. Marine petrifactions —
fishes, shells, corals — were found imbedded in rocks, or
in the soil, in places far removed from the existing sea,
and at a considerable height above its level, — in the up-
land country, and even on the tops of mountains. The
wise men of those days (so late as the year 1 680) ex-
plained the phenomena by supposing a "plastic power"
in Nature, which was exerted in moulding the living rock
into mimic representations of animals and plants, for no
better purpose, seemingly, than to puzzle and amuse the
vulgar. This was cutting the knot of difficulty after a
strange fashion. It was contrary to their theory to be-
lieve that the sea had ever occupied the places in which
the marine productions were found. If it had not, how
could these have got there ? There was no reply but the
resolute denial that the fossils were really the relics of
marine creatures ; and this, in spite of the evidence of

LINN^US. 6

their senses, or the deductions of sound reason, these
pseudo-philosophers uublushingly asserted. It was thus
that the facts of Nature were habitually twisted to suit
the requirings of a preconceived theory ; and thus la-
borious lives were spent to no other purpose than in
heaping up a mass of unreadable nonsense in our
libraries.

The enunciation of the inductive philosophy was the
first great blow to the fame of these writers. The per-
fect system of the universe was found to be no longer
tenable ; it fell almost at the first onset, and with it fell
the charm which had embalmed every opinion handed
down from classic times. The Book of Nature began to
be studied with ardour, and in a new and unfettered
spirit. No longer clogged with theories, naturalists found
that, so far from its having been exhausted by the
labours of their predecessors, Natural History was full,
to overflowing, of novel interest. Facts were no longer
tried by traditional authority; but tradition was sub-
jected to the close inquisition of newly-observed facts.
In every country observers were at work ; and, instead of
the somnambulism of the preceding ages, naturalists,
like men newly risen, went forth in their morning
strength and ardour to the labour of the day. The fair
sun of science was already above the horizon, and it was
their privilege to drink in his earliest beams.

So long as Natural History was encumbered with its
pseudo-classical incubus its votaries were few in num-
ber. The more it grew into a science founded on ob-
servation, the more it attracted popular attention. The
writings of Linn^us, composed in a clear and elegant

4 NATURAL SYSTEMS :

style, and offering a systematic arrangement such as all
could readily understand, contributed more than those
of any other naturalist to the spread of a taste for his
favourite science. He was eminently a popular writer,
and, no matter what criticism may now be passed on his
system, it must be admitted that to it is greatly owing
the rapidity with which the natural sciences advanced
in public favour in the early part of last century. Had
his followers possessed a tithe of his comprehensive and
singularly-penetrating mind, they would have saved his
memory from many an undeserved reproach. No man
ever had a truer eye for a natural group, or was more
deeply impressed with the value of a natural system.
He has indeed left us, in his Genera, especially of
Insects and Shells, grand outlines of such a system,
sketched by a master's hand. But he felt that the time
for erecting the temple of Nature had not come, and that
his own province lay in preparing materials for the
building, and to this task he devoted the chief energies
of his mind.

We of the present generation are, perhaps, too apt to
think that sufficient materials have already been amassed,
and to set ourselves — often with but a very superficial
knowledge of even a single department of a single sci-
ence— to work out a system which shall embrace a
much wider field, perhaps one that shall attempt to be
a System of Nature. Hence the numerous systems, all
called " natural," which have been proposed, both in
Zoology and Botany, within the last fifty years. Hence,
too, the still stranger systems and anti-systems which
the history of Geology exhibits, where the same fact

THEORIES. 5

is often adduced by different writers as the most con-
vincing proof in favour of directly opposite views of the
history of the world. These discrepancies are sufficient
to prove to any unprejudiced mind that the requisite
materials for constructing a perfectly natural system are
not yet accumulated, and that in every department of
Natural History patient observers are still required)
who will be contented to store up facts, and to work out
such parts of a general system as they find to be within
their legitimate reach, abstaining from all general views
that are not warranted by the amount, either of their
own knowledge, or of that of the scientific world in gene-
ral. Bold minds will now and then run a-head of abso-
lute discoveries^ and by lucky anticipation will some-
times point in the right direction. Deeply informed and
comprehensive intellects will discover glimpses through
the haze, like the looming of distant land, where com-
mon observers can see no indications of a solution, and
their " guesses at truth," being built partly on real in-
duction, partly on skilfully-applied analogies, often open
up to us correct views of the order of Nature which sub-
sequent discoveries only confirm and strengthen. Such
minds will ever be cautious in advancing theories : but
how many hasty observers, admiring the brilliant re-
sults attained by the skilful " guesser," ignorant of the
liabilities to error, and therefore despising caution, rush
forward on their course, and propose to the world their
fanciful schemes as important discoveries. In the re-
public of science there is no longer a recognized head.
Each panter after fame may set up a system of his own.
There is no controlling power but the slow-working

6 NATURAL HISTOUr

verdict of tlie general voice. That, indeed, operates
surely and calmly, like tlie inexorable laws of Nature,
and consigns eacli bubble theory, in due time, to merited
forgetfulness : but this operation may be a long one, and
many a theoriser, for the false excitement of temporary
notoriety, will risk the possession of enduring fame.

The present age has produced many of these pseudo-
naturalists, though not so many as that immediately
preceding it. The spirit is not extinct : and therefore
it is that I would caution my younger fellow-students,
for whom these pages are written, against allowing their
imaginations to be carried away by specious theories, or
any theories which do not proceed from a deep study
of Nature. Much more would I caution them against
building systems of their own. Their place clearly is,
to learn and not to teach, and until they have brought
together a very considerable amount of observations they
can scarcely have an adequate conception of what a sys-
tem should be. In heaping together these observations,
they will find real pleasure, and will become, as they
proceed, more and more sensible of the capacity of
mind and knowledge which is required in him who shall
venture to sketch out a " Sy sterna Natur(B." Let no
man boast, like the irreverent monument to BuiFon, of
having " a mind equal to the majesty of Nature ;" — and
let none of us act as if we laid claim to such a mind.
The portion of the created universe with which the
naturalist occupies himself is indeed small, if we com-
pare our world with the stellar system, and estimate its
value by the line and the plummet ; but, the more we
become conversant with its heights and depths, the more

IN THE COUNTRY.

shall we find that size and weight ought to have no
place in our estimation of the great or the little in
Nature : for they appear to have no place in the mind
of the Author of Nature. The same skill and care are
employed in the formation and adaptation of the minut-
est animal or plant as in that of the largest ; and the
same law that governs the formation of a rain-drop, in-
fluences not merely that of our own world, but extends
throughout the immeasurable regions of space. In
Nature everything displays the same evidence of great-
ness of design, sufficient, when duly appreciated, to fill
the largest intellect to overflowing, and to make it sensi-
ble that so far from having a capacity " equal to the
majesty" of what it contemplates, its utmost stretchings
are insufficient to comprehend the fulness of a single
natural law.

In contrast to the inventors of fanciful systems, how
gladly do we turn to such a writer as Gilbert White,
the well-known author of " The Natural History of
Selborne." Within the bounds of a single country parish
he found ample materials for one of the most delightful
and instructive books of Natural History ever written.
It does not require to be located in a peculiarly favour-
ed district to discover sufficient to arrest the attention
of the observant naturalist, or even to add something to
the general stock of knowledge. The naturalist is more
independent of circumstances than most men. Give him
fields and hedges, the barren moor, or the quarry, —
from each and all he will collect a store of useful and
entertaining facts. No part of the country is so abso-
lutely barren that it will not afford employment to the

5 THE SEA-SHORE.

cultivator of some department of Natural History : and
employment of that nature that will keep his mind
pleasantly and profitably occupied, in the midst of the
most complete retirement. One therefore wonders that
a taste for Natural History is not the universal accom-
paniment of a country life.

But if country life naturally lead us to contemplate
the objects of creation with which we are there sur-
rounded, how much more does a residence, and espe-
cially an occasional residence, on the sea- coast attract
us into the field of observation. The numerous marine
watering-places, which are thronged in the summer and
autumn months, ought to be so many schools for natu-
ralists. Placed on all our coasts, they ofier the greatest
variety of aspect and climate that the limited shores of
the British Islands can supply. The sheltered bay —
the open strand — the bold rocky barrier against which
breakers constantly roll — each has its peculiar animal
and vegetable inhabitant ; and each variety of shore is
more or less perfectly represented in one or other of our
watering-places. By visiting different parts, therefore,
of the coast in succession, year by year, we may investi-
gate to the greatest advantage the productions of the sea.
These are never exhausted : and once that an interest in
the pursuit is awakened, it never flags. There is no
need to import the winter resources of cities — balls, par-
ties, and theatrical representations — to the watering-
place. Half the year ought to suffice for these amuse-
ments. Let the summer and the sea-side preserve their
native pleasures undisturbed. There is so much to be
enjoyed on the sea-shore when the mind is once opened

GEOLOGY. 9

to the pleasure afforded by the study of Natural History,
that no other stimulus is wanted to keep the interest
of the visitor constantly awake. Instead of finding his
time hang heavily, he will often wonder how rapidly the
long summer-day has flown by, while he has been occu-
pied with some investigation in the midst of which
darkness overtakes him. When visiting the sea, to seek
relaxation from business, it is astonishing with what
zest a person will enter on the pursuit of Natural His-
tory, and how invigorating and refreshing he will find
it. After a short time, the mind of an habitually busy
man finds no relief in complete idleness. He must
occupy himself in some manner. He is removed from
his ordinary business — perhaps, forbidden by a physician
from receiving letters that require thought ; his mind
is too active to rest unemployed, and there is nothing in
the neighbourhood to rouse him. If on the sea-shore,
and happily possessing a turn for Natural History, he
is at once supplied with occupation of the most health-
ful character. His pursuits lead him to take exercise
of body, and, without fatiguing the mind, give it that
pleasurable excitement which rapidly restores its tone
when sufiering from having been over-wrought. It
matters little to which of the Natural History sciences
he devotes his attention, or whether each in turn en-
gages it. Probably, a valetudinarian will find most
relief in variety. He can indulge a taste for Geology
either in investigating the sections of strata which
the headlands of the coast often admirably exhibit,
or in watching the thousand evidences of forces in ope-
ration which are gradually changing the level of our

10 GEOLOGY.

present seas, and which explain to us the greater opera-
tions of a former era, or show us how, in slowly accu-
mulating periods, changes as great are in preparation
even now. The formation of beds of the remains of
recent testacea, Crustacea, and fishes ; the gradual indu-
ration of conglomerates under the sea ; and the drifting
of sands by the wind, may all be observed in different
parts of our coast, and in some to a very remarkable
degree. The changes effected by wind-blown sands
have very materially altered the features of several parts
of the British coasts, converting tracts of fertile land
into deserts as sterile as those of Africa. Lyell men-
tions a district in the north of Cornwall, once cultivated
and inhabited, where the drifted sands now form hills
composed of minute fragments of sea-shells, several hun-
dred feet above the level of the sea. Here the sand
may in several places be found undergoing a process of
induration, and in some parts the change is so far
advanced that blocks are used as building-stone ; and
thus the geologist can trace the gradual formation of a
sandstone-rock. But the interest of this locality is not
confined to the geologist. The archaeologist will visit it
as the residence of one of the early missionaries, by
whose labours Christianity was introduced into this re-
mote part of Britain, and where, on the overthrow of so
many British churches by the subsequent incursions of
an unchristian horde, the light of truth continued to
shine till the commencement of a happier era. Here,
toward the close of the fourth century, St. Piran, " born
of noble parents, in the county of Ossory, in Ireland,
A.D. 352, and converted to the Christian faith in 382,

PERRANZABULOE. 11

having been ordained bishop at Rome, fixed his abode
among a simple people, and passed a long and exem-
plary life in instructing them. Nor did he confine him-
self to the functions of his sacred calling, but, we are told,
he was equally zealous in instructing his parishioners in
the useful arts, and especially in the working of metals.
Hence, it is not without reason that " the Cornish miners
venerate the name of Piranus as their tutelary saint and
benefactor; and to this day the tinners of Cornwall keep
his feast on the 5th of March, and hold a fair near his
church in honour of St. Piranus." The church, long
buried under the sands, has recently been exhumed, and
the vignette at the head of this chapter represents its
present state.* Another instance occurs on the coast of
Suffolk, where, in the lapse of a century, the sands have
spread over more than 1000 acres of land. On the
coast of Sligo an equally destructive sand-inundation
has taken place, and, though partially checked, is still
in progress. This has already destroyed from seven to
eight hundred acres of fertile land, burying in its course
a considerable village. Strange to say, the village is not
yet a " Deserted Village," though buried in the midst of
a desert. Its inhabitants still cling to their wretched
huts, only the roofs of which now rise above the sands,
and these, with the entrances, are kept clear only by
the constant labours of the inmates. It is a singular
sight in walking over extensive sandy downs, where

* See an interesting publication by the Rev. Collins Trelawny,
called " Perranzabuloe — the lost church found," 1836, and also " Per-
ranzabuloe ; with an Account of the Past and Present State of the
Oratory of St. Piran in the Sands," by the Rev. W. Haslam, 1844.

12 BOTANY.

scarcely a blade is seen, to come suddenly on a rude
cliimney from wliicli the peat-smoke rises, and to see a
pig, followed by a troop of ragged children, rise up from
under our feet. Much care has been taken to induce
the occupants of these tenements, who subsist on fishing,
to quit the ground, but hitherto unsuccessfully. They
pay no rent for the burrows ; and are contented to act
as geological hour-glasses.

In exploring maritime scenes like this, the geologist,
not to speak of the philanthropist, will find interesting
objects of research. If he be a botanist, he will probably
occupy himself also in devising plans for the detention
of the sands, and their gradual fixation and conversion
into cultivable soil. It is well known that many plants
may be advantageously used as binders to loose sands.
Of these, the Sand-reed {Ammophila arundinacea), which
naturally grows on the sandy shores of Europe, is one of
the best. Its roots penetrate to a considerable depth,
ramifying in all directions, and forming a complete sys-
tem of rope-work which soon binds together the loosest
sands : while its strong tall leaves protect the surface
of the soil from drought, and afford shelter to numerous
small plants, which soon grow between the reeds, and
gradually form a new green surface on the bed of sand.
Were this reed planted on the Sligo sands, and protected
for a very few years from the donkeys of the imbedded
inhabitants, the further progress of the sand-flood would
be effectually stopped, and the land now lost to cultiva-
tion gradually restored to a part, at least, of its former
value. Several other plants will flourish under the pro-
tection of the Sand-reed. One of the most valuable (re-

BOTANT. 13

commended a few years ago by Mr. W. Andrews*) is
the Sea-pea {Latliyrus inaritwms), which produces a fair
crop of excellent herbage, while its penetrating roots
bind the sands nearly equally with those of the Sand-
reed. Were the latter planted on the most exposed
places, and the Lathyrus under its lee, a most valuable
herbage would be acquired. The Lathyrus is perennial ;
if browsed by cattle it does not often blossom, but it
extends, by means of runners and suckers, over a wide
space, forming a close carpet of nourishing leaves.

Inquiries such as these are, however, more the
applications of Botany. I would rather speak of the
science, apart from its economic relations, as of itself af-
fording enjoyment to the invalid who visits the shore in
search of health and strength. When land plants cease
to attract his attention, the sea has vegetable treasures in
great variety and of inconceivable beauty. The number
of British sea-weeds, of the larger class, is not far from
four hundred, and if we add purely microscopic species,
we shall have upwards of five hundred kinds. In col-
lecting and preparing specimens of these beautiful
objects, and tracing out the affinities which link one
kind with another, and bring the whole into a well-
ordered family, many happy hours may be filled up.
Nor is this a selfish pleasure. The true naturalist is
always ready to share his pleasures with others, and
only half enjoys what he cannot share. The value he
attaches to the acquisition of a new plant is quite
different from that by which a mere collector estimates
his treasure. A collector seeks for unique specimens,
* In a paper read before the Dublin Natural History Society.

14 ZOOLOGY.

and will even destroy duplicates, that lie may enjoy the
silly boast of having the only specimen in existence. A
naturalist ever wishes for a series, that he may trace the
connexion between one form and another, and thus see
the limit of variation in diiferent species and genera.
He works with a constant remembrance of the unity of
Nature. The more he discovers traces of affinity be-
tween different groups, the more the unity of design
manifests itself; and the more his conceptions of a per-
sonality in the scheme of Nature are strengthened, and
become fixed. From faint and weak beginnings, they
gradually expand, and acquire the solidity of truth.
Thus, step by step, and as it were "from glory to
glory," the mind of the true naturalist is led on to the
discovery of laws, and to a just appreciation of the
System of Nature.

Pleasures of this kind do not belong to any one de-
partment of Natural History in particular. I have al-
luded to them under the head of Botany; but, in truth.
Zoology, in its far greater copiousness and variety,
offers an immeasurably wider field. The sea teems with
animal life. The various classes of marine animals, and
the innumerable species comprised in the whole, are full
of interest. Few, even of the most careless, can visit the
shore without being struck by their beauty. The gather-
ing of shells is a favourite amusement ; but few know
anything of the curious animals which have dwelt in
them. The dead husks of Zoophytes attract us by their
gracefulness and by the truth with which they simulate
a vegetable form ; but of the animals whose habitations
they are, most persons are ignorant of the very exist-

ZOOLOGY. 15

ence, believing that the horny skeleton is a veritable
sea-weed. The very Jelly-fish, as it swims in the wave,
expanding and contracting its umbrella, and thus pro-
pelling itself through the water, has its beauty ; but
few are aware of the singularity of its history, — how its
eggs are of the nature of seeds, which, sown on their
rocky bed, sprout and grow, throwing out buds and
suckers, each of which forms an animal stem, quite un-
like the parent Jelly-fish ; till, at a certain time, young
Jelly-fish begin to be formed, and to be thrown off by
the several branches, just as flowers are formed, and
expand on the several branches that originate from
a vegetable-seed. And if the abject Jelly-fish, whose
body consists of little more than organized water,
have a history so wonderful, shall we not expect to
find, in tracing the history of other tribes of animals,
matter of equal interest 1 The structures, as we ascend
in the scale, gradually become more complex ; and if
those strange metamorphoses which arrest our attention
in the lowest tribes give place to more accustomed phe-
nomena, we are amply compensated by the progressive
developement of the wonderful faculty of instinct. In
observing the variations of structure of the analogous
organs of different animals, and noticing how, accord-
ing to the necessities of their life, they are provided
with proper instruments, innumerable proofs of the
care of Providence over His creatures are offered to our
contemplation. These cannot fail to interest us, if for
no other reason, because they forcibly remind us of our
own dependence on the same bountiful Hand, and thus
soothe the most desponding with the thought that, if

16 ZOOLOGY : ITS SEVERAL DEPARTMENTS.

creatures so humble in the scale of creation are cared
for, and their wants supplied, the human soul, though
linked to a frail body, and placed in a world that
seems as nothing in the universe, must, in the sight of
its Author, be of that inestimable worth attributed to
it by Revelation. If the truths of Astronomy witness
to the majesty of God, those of Natural History witness
no less to the proper dignity of man; and while the
first teach us to humble ourselves before Him " who
inhabiteth eternity," the second show us that true hu-
mility consists, not in supposing ourselves to be beneath
the care, or unworthy the notice, of the " High and
Lofty One," but in claiming the privileges of that posi-
tion in His creation which He has assigned to us, and
fulfilling its duties because they are of His requiring.

Such, then, are some of the pleasures of Natural
History, whatever branch of the subject we select for
our researches. I have glanced at those pleasures under
the heads Geology, Botany, and Zoology. Each of
these might be again divided ; and the last, especially,
is so extensive that its several branches are spoken of
as distinct sciences. Thus we have Ornithology, Ich-
thyology, Entomology, Conchology, &c., all branches
of the great science of Zoology. The British amateur-
naturalist is particularly fortunate in possessing a series
of admirable monographs, copiously illustrated by
figures, on each of the several zoological sciences ; so
that, whatever tribe he wishes to study, he can have
the advantage of consulting a carefully written, sys-
tematic work, which places that particular tribe dis-
tinctly before him, and gives him ail the striking points

MONOGRAPHY. 17

of the history of the animals composing it, so far as
they are known to naturalists. Yarrell's Histories of
British Birds and Fishes : Forbes's Star-fishes ; Bell's
Crustacea, and Johnston's Zoophytes, need no commen-
dation. And when the whole series is completed, by the
History of British Shells (just commenced), and the
splendid work on the Naked-gilled Mollusca publish-
ing under the auspices of the Ray Society, the Zoology
of Great Britain will be more perfectly illustrated than
that of any other country. In other countries the
student has either to consult a general Zoology, or at
best a Fauna of the country, comprising an account
— necessarily brief and imperfect — of all its animals.
How few single authors are capable of writing equally
well on every tribe, included in a general Fauna, if
the country whose animals are described be extensive.
Some one tribe has engaged more of the author's
attention than another, and an undue prominence
will thence be given to his favourite. But where each
author selects his own tribe, and devotes his whole
attention to it, we have in the combined work of several
pens the most perfect of general Zoologies. This is
precisely what we shall possess in Great Britain when
the series, of monographs to which I have alluded is
finished.

To render these monographs as perfect as possible is
the interest of every student of Natural History; and
the humblest worker in the field, if careful to see
with his own eyes, and record faithfully what he sees,
can materially assist the labours of the author. A
single, unassisted individual would require the eyes of

c

18

NEW SPECIES AND GENEKA.

an Argus, and the hands and heads of a Briareus, to
bring together the mass of facts and observations con-
tained in one of these monographs. Such works pre-
suppose the examination of every part of our coasts at
all seasons of the year. It falls to no man's lot to make
such extensive investigations. But the results of the
common labours of many individuals scattered along
the shore, concentrated in the author's study, accom-
plish the work far more rapidly and more perfectly
than could possibly be done by any other means. Not-
withstanding all that has been done of late years the
subject is yet very far from being exhausted. New
species and even new genera, are still continually met
with among both marine plants and animals on the
British coasts ; and this, not merely among the more
minute and obscure kinds, where such occurrences con-
stantly take place, but among the larger and more per-
fectly organised classes. The pleasure of adding a new
member, never before noticed by man, to the list of
known beings must, perhaps, be felt before it can be
understood. We experience, in some measure, a parental
fondness for an object which we have been the first to
bring to light : and with this often mixes a good slice
of self-complacency at our own wonderful acuteness.
This last feeling is often very silly, for, probably, it was
good luck more than sagacity which threw the object
in our way : and any one else of common observation,
might have acted his part as well. It is something to
have worked out a difficult problem requiring mental
exertion ; or to have been the first to distinguish accu-
rately between two different animals or plants which

STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORr. 19

were before wrongly confounded together j but to plume
oneself on having picked up, for the first time, a shell
or a sea-weed, which any one visiting the same ground
might have equally done, is simply childish,

I speak now of that improper egotism which takes
almost as much credit to itself as if it were the author
of what it has found. I am very far from condemning
the pure-minded joy, one of the most delightful feelings
of a naturalist, which springs freely in his heart, and
glistens in his eye, when first it rests upon an tmknown
object. This feeling is a mixture of warm affections
which cannot confine themselves to a single breast, but
instantly seek for sympathy. The first impulse is, to
exhibit the novelty to another that he may share our
delight, and that we may see him do so. And if there
be none to sympathise, how naturally the grateful heart
looks up and worships the Author of its enjoyment!
Cold as the heart's feelings may be at other times, the
fervour of the moment awakens all its better nature.
This enjoyment may seem a small thing to call forth
gratitude, when we are accustomed to receive so many
blessings at the hand of God in a thankless or indif-
ferent spirit. These blessings we seem to look on as
our birthright, as members of His family ; but the dis-
covery of a new object among the works of creation acts
like a special revelation, however small, to ourselves as
individuals, and this feeling of individuality touches
a chord in the human breast which is ever ready to
vibrate. The man whose life is saved by what appears
to be a special interference of Providence in his favour,
feels strongly what all ought to feel who know that at

20 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY.

every moment of our lives the same care is exercised
upon us. But the care in the one case is for the general
goodj the interest of which often calls for individual suf-
fering; in the other, the welfare of the individual seems
the special object of providential forethought. The
latter brings God as it were personally before us. He
is no longer merely the Creator exercising oversight
over a vast dominion, but he is our Preserver, protect-
ing us in our going forth and coming in. Similar,
though weaker, are the feelings called forth by a closer
insight into Nature, and a more intimate acquaintance
with her works. When we begin the study, our con-
ception of the Author of Nature may be diffuse — a
vague idea as of some illimitable Power, in ceaseless
action; but the more we pursue this delightful study,
the more we recognise, if we work in a proper spirit,
proofs of the personality of God. Though now we can
know Him but in part, and only see Him reflected in
his works as it were " through a glass darkly," we look
forward to a time when we shall behold Him "face to
face," and shall know Him, " even as we ourselves
are known."

B3RIMPERS OP 'i EIE ENQLIS

CHAPTER IL

THE SANDS AND THEIR PRODUCTIONS.

Large tracts of sand, exposed to the atmosphere, are
proverbially monotonous and desert. Their surface is
too loose and uncertain, and water finds its way through
them with too great facility, to admit of the growth of
a varied vegetation or to afford food and shelter to
many animal inhabitants. In a great measure, this
barren character applies to extensive sand deposits
under the sea ; and yet the sandy sea-shore has many
attractions which the sandy land-down cannot boast of.
The constant flow of the ocean binds together the un-
settled particles of sand, and the retreat of the tide
from such a coast, if it afford the visitor no other en-
joyment, gives him a delightfully smooth and firm

22 SANDY SEA-SHOBE.

promenade, generally of considerable length and breadth;
while it rarelj happens that monotony is so absolute
as to destroy the picturesque associations of the shore.
The constant pulsation of the waves on the margin of
the tide, far from affecting us with the sense of mono-
tony, serves rather to soothe the mind ; while the
changes of light and shade on the surface of the sea
supply sufficient variety to keep the senses awake.
And these changes are quite sufficient, even on the
tamest shores, to arrest the attention. Few have at-
tempted to paint coast scenes like those which Crabbe
so graphically brings before us : —

" Where all beside is pebbly length of shore.
And far as eye can reach, it can discern no more ; "

and none with his power of description. The coast which
awakened his genius is one of the least picturesque
in England ; but he saw it with the eyes of a poet
and a naturalist. And all who learn the use of similar
organs of vision will find that there is no place so dull
as not to afford us abundant sources of pleasure.

If we do nothing but watch the flocks of sea-birds
which, on the recess of the tide, are attracted to the
shore in search of food, their habits will soon begin
to interest us. Gulls, Terns, and Sandpipers, of various
species, will then become familiar friends ; and in watch-
ing their various ways, and tracing them when they
leave us, — discovering whence they come, and to what
country they annually migrate, we shall begin to feel
a strong interest in all that concerns them. The
Dunlin, the most common of the Sandpipers {Tringa

SEA-BIRDS.

23

variabilis) is found all round our coasts, where it col-
lects, on sandy shores, in vast flocks, which, on the re-
cess of every tide, are busily occupied in searching along
the margin of the sea for the minute marine animals,
on which they feed. In summer, this active little bird

DDNLIN SANDPIPERS,

deserts its marine haunts, and retires to moors and un-
frequented places, similar to those selected by the Plover,
where it makes its simple nest and rears its brood. In
August, both the young and the old birds return to the
coast, and it is then especially that the most numerous
and most active flocks are to be seen. Yarrell * well
describes them as " incessantly upon the move, shifting
their ground perpetually, running nimbly along, or
taking short flights from place to place, frequently
wading to follow the aquatic insects, worms, mollusca,

* Brit. Birds, iii. p. 82.

24 THE ALBATROSS.

and the smaller thin-skinned crustacea, whicli are put in
motion by every receding wave. If disturbed, the wbole
flock take wing together, and, wheeling along in half
circles near the edge or the surface of the water, each
bird exhibits alternately a dark or light appearance to
the observer, as the upper or under side of its body
happens to be turned towards him."

The Terns, or Sea Swallows, by their very graceful
form and rapid flight, skimming along the surface of the
sea, seldom fail to attract the notice of the most casual
visitor. But it is not till we examine them minutely
that we are aware of the numerous species which in-
habit difierent parts of our coasts, each no doubt select-
ing that place where he finds ground best fitted to his
wants. No less than eleven species of Tern either visit
or breed on some part of the British shore. Many of
them migrate to very distant places in their winter
rambles, exploring the shores of tropical countries, and
even extending their flights to high latitudes in the
southern hemisphere. No birds are better fitted to
remain long on the wing. The elegant, boat-shaped
body, small in proportion to the great length of wing,
is easily supported in the air during a very long-con-
tinued flight. To the same family of birds belong the
Sea Gulls, which are mostly of larger size and less slen-
der form, but with very similar habits ; and also the
famous Albatross, whose lengthy flight, reported by
voyagers as continued for weeks or months together,
is so celebrated. But the time which the Albatross
can remain on the wing has, I think, been much
exaggerated. Like the Gull and the Tern, though not

FOOT-PEIITTS ON THE SHOEE. 25

a diving bird, it swims with great buoyancy, and. not-
withstanding the enormous length of its wings, it does
not appear to find much difficulty in mounting again
in the air, after it has alighted ©n the water. It is
quite true that when caught, and liberated on the deck
of a ship, it finds it impossible to take wing : and hence
it has been hastily inferred that, unless from some cliff
or projection of considerable elevation, the Albatross
cannot commence its flight ; and as the same birds are
often found following the ship for many weeks together,
it has been said that they continue all that time on the
wing. But no one can have watched the Albatross with
much attention, and not seen it alight frequently on
the water. It lives on animal matter, which it finds
floating on the sea ; and though it sometimes secures
its food while on the wing by skimming along the water,
it is just as common to see it close its wings and swim
like a Gull: and when it wishes again to rise, it may be
seen running and flapping along till it has acquired
sufficient impetus, and finds a wave of sufficient height
to start from. Then, with a not ungraceful motion,
it soon resumes that steady flight, which may continue
over a wide extent of sea.

The foot-prints of sea-birds on the sands of the shore
are often unnoticed, and are swept away by the first
returning wave. So are the tracks of trailing shell-fish,
which may sometimes be seen furrowing the surface of
fine hard sand in considerable numbers. The Common
Yellow Nerite (Littorina litoralis) is a frequent maker of
these trails, as it moves its station from one small rock
to another, patiently cutting a road through the sands

36 THE RIPPLE -MARK.

as it proceeds on its journey. These naarks, and the un-
dulations left by the water on the surface, where regular
minute ridges of sand follow each other in an orderly
manner, like the furrows in a field, appear of so fugacious
a nature as to be undeserving of notice. The retreating
wave has left them behind, and the returning will sweep
them away, and all be a smooth surface again. Yet, in
these fugitive markings of the sand the geologist traces
a resemblance which links them with time immeasur-
ably distant in the past history of the world, and with
impressions on rocks which have outlived the decay of
centuries, but which were, in their origin, of no more
apparent stability than these marks in the sand, or than
our own foot-prints. When a surface of sandstone-rock
is uncovered, it very frequently exhibits markings of a
nature precisely similar to what we every day meet with
on the sandy shore. There is the rijjple-mark, defined
with equal regularity and sharpness — we see where
every wavelet of the antediluvian ocean did its work ; —
there are the sinuous roads, cut out by the antediluvian
molluscs, now visible in relief, by the mud which has
silted into them ; — the worm-like heaps of sand, which
mark the position of the worm, or of the testaceous
mollusc, are equally obvious in the sandstone, and on
the recent shore ; — the very rain-drops which impressed
the sandy surface thousands of years ago have left their
record on the surface of the rock. When we see all
these appearances on the newly turned-up rock, and
find similar markings on the flat sands of the sea, it is
impossible to avoid connecting the two observations,
and admitting that, in what passes under our eyes as a

THE KIPPLE-MAEK, 27

daily occurrence on the sands, we find the explanation of
the geological phenomenon. The sandstone-rock, hard
as it now may be, was once a beach, as impressible as
that in which we may now be leaving our foot-prints.
And though, in thousands of cases, these foot-prints
will be swept away by the next flow of the water,
it may so happen that they will remain. And it is a
wonderful circumstance that all trace of some of the
gigantic animals which once inhabited the world has
perished from the knowledge of mankind, save only the
track of their foot-prints left in what was then adhe-
sive mud, but which successive ages have converted into
hard stone. If Robinson Crusoe was powerfully affected
by meeting with the naked human foot-print in the
sand, what a crowd of thoughts are awakened by discover-
ing in the hard rock this only evidence of a gigantic
animal ! A true poet has said,

" It is the soul that sees : the outward eyes,
Present the object, but the mind descries ;
And thence delight, disgust, or cool indiff 'rence rise."

We may live among the grandest scenes of Nature, or
may visit the noblest monuments of art, and remain
insensible to their beauty or sublimity. Differently
affected, we may find in the barren sands of the sea-
shore enjoyment of the purest character, and specula-
tions, which, rising from nothing more important than
the train of a sea-slug, will lead us to contemplate, and
in measure, to comprehend some of the most extensive
operations of Nature, bringing under review unnum-
bered ages, past, present, and to come.

28 OLD OYSTER-SHELL.

It is common to find on the sands the remains of
Oyster-shells, so completely riddled with holes as to pre-
sent the aspect of a pearly lacework, merely recalling by
its general contour the form of the original shell, but
retaining few of its characters. Meeting with such
worm-eaten shells, many persons will pass them by
without paying the slightest attention, or, at most, will
honour them with but a heedless glance. Others may
confine their reveries to recollections of Oyster-suppers.
But it is just in proportion as our knowledge of Natural
History extends, and as a taste for it exists in the mind,
that such an object is capable of interesting us. Simple
and common as it appears, a long chapter might be
written in merely recording the history of its inhabitant
from the time when it lay quietly on its bed among other
Oysters, lodged in its firmly-built house, and appearing
to defy all intruders, to the present dismantled state of
the shell, resembling a ruined fortress, pierced in all
directions with cannon shot. The number of enemies
which the Oyster meets with, that gradually overcome
his defences by mining in his shells, is considerable, not
to speak of those who attack him in front : — and no
doubt the dilapidated example before us is the work of
several sets of teeth. His first assailants were proba-
bly small sea-worms of the class of Annelides, several
kinds of which, some of them of great beauty, may often
be seen crawling among Oysters when brought to table.
These, boring through the shell, attacked him at all
points. At first he resisted their assault by fresh de-
positions of pearly matter, interposed between his soft
parts and their intruding mouths, and thus pearls were

SKATE-BARROWS. 29

cast in the patli of tlie enemy. But alas ! they were
offered to a swinish multitude, who turned aside to
renew the attack on an unprotected point, till the poor
Oyster's strength was well nigh exhausted in the strug-
gle. Then, in the holes pierced by the Annelides a
parasitic sponge {Halkhondria celata) probably estab-
lished itself, which ate further into his vitals, causing
the softer parts of the shell to rot away, and spreading
through its whole substance, like the dry-rot fungus
through a solid beam of timber, until, under his accu-
mulated misfortunes, the poor Oyster perished, and his
loosened shell was cast to the mercy of the waves.

Before describing the more common inhabitants of
sandy shores, I shall mention two or three objects which
frequently attract us on the sands, as they are wafted to
our feet by the wave, or left high and dry on shore from
a previous tide. The first of these are, what are called
Mermaid's Furses, which are of two or three sorts, one
or other of which is known to most children who have
rambled by the sea, though many persons may not
be aware of the nature of the curious object which at-
tracts their attention. The first and largest kind is
four or five inches long, and about one-and-a-half in
breadth, of a dark-brown colour, and a texture between
horny and membranous, with a very fibrous structure.
Its form is oblong, nearly rectangular, with the angles
produced into long points. This sort of Mermaid's
Purse is the egg, or sheath containing the young^
of the several kinds of Ray-fish or Skate, and on
some parts of the coast, according to Yarrell, they are
called Skate-barrows, in allusion to their resemblance

30 meemaid's purse.

in form to a four-handed barrow. In this secure case
the young fish continues to live for some time, until
the nourishment provided for it in the egg is ex-
hausted, and the little creature, increased in size and
strength, is able to burst the narrow enclosure, and
seek his fortune in the open sea. These purses are
produced at the latter end of spring, or early summer,
and will then be found to contain the young fish, in
various stages of growth, nicely coiled up, with his long
tail bent back toward the head. At this early stage
the fish bears a near resemblance to what it afterwards
attains. The flat rhomboidal body, expanding at the
sides into a wide winglike margin, composed of a modi-
fication of the pectoral fins, and the long and slender
thorny tail are quite as striking in the young as in the
old specimen. In the Ray tribe there seems no distinct
head ; this part and the neck, being confounded with
the body and the expanded margin, forms merely a
wedge-shaped anterior extremity. The mouth, and
nostrils, and gill- openings, are found on the under sur-
face, the eyes on the upper ; and this separation gives
the countenance that peculiar distracted expression
which is so hideous. The form of the body is admi-
rably adapted to the habits of these fishes, which live
on the bottom, where they glide along with a slow mo-
tion, assisted by gentle movements of the pectoral fins.
Being as flat as the surface of the ground over which
they move, and nearly of the same colour, they can
pursue their game with much security and at leisure.
Another, and more beautiful kind of Mermaid's Purse,
is the egg of the Dog-fish, a small species of Shark.

MERMAID S PURSE.

31

Some of the Sharks produce their young alive j others
bring them forth enclosed in these cases, which are de-
posited by the parent in shallow parts of the sea, along
the shore. They are oblong, convex at the side, semi-
transparent, of a clear yellowish horn-colour, and with
a firm horny texture. From each of the four angles
issues a long tendril, which coils round sea-weeds or any
other fixed body near which the egg may be deposited,

EGO OF SHARK,

and of which it can take hold ; and, thus anchored, it
defies securely the tossing of the waves, awaiting its
proper season for being hatched. There is an opening
at each end of the purse, through which the sea-water
finds its way to the prisoner enclosed within, and at
length the young Shark makes its exit through one
of these, at the end nearest to which his head is
placed.*

Another anomalous object commonly found, consists
of a number of firmly membranous little bladders, each

* See Yarrell, Hist, of Brit. Fishes, 2nd edit., vol. ii. p. 487, &c.

32

NEST OF WHELK.

about a quarter of an incli in breadth, flat on the inside,
and convex on the outside, adhering together in regular
order by their expanded margins : the whole forming
a body which looks like a wasp's nest. In March or
April, each of these little membranous sacs, which is
found empty and pierced with a hole a month or two
later, contains a soft yolk, in which is gradually formed
a young univalve mollusc, whose shell begins to take its
proper shape before he emerges from the membranous
egg. These froth-like masses
are indeed the eggs of the
large Whelk (^Buccinum un-
datum), which inhabits deep-
er water, beyond the recess
of the tide, where it attaches
these masses of eggs to rocks
and stones, from which they
often become loosened and
are cast up in rough weather,
as are also the Whelks them-
selves, whose dead shells we
frequently meet with on
shore. Somewhat similar
eggs are produced by other
allied species, the forms and localities differing in each.
The eggs of a common species, with a coarse, white shell,
sometimes banded with brown and yellow {Puiyura la-
pillus), are frequently seen attached to small stones, on
the sides of rocky hollows. These are little oblong
urns, each raised on a short stalk, fixed to a circular
expanded base, and pierced by a hole. They generally

BUG. UNXIiTUM AND NEBT.

EGGS OF MOLLUSCA,

33

PDRP, LAPILLUS AND EGGS.

occur in groups of ten, twenty, or more together. The
egg-clusters of other Univalve Mollusca are equally cu-
rious, but they are commonly found in deeper water, or
may more properly be noticed when speaking of the
rocks. These animals are
much more frequent on
rocky ground, and naturally
prefer the stability of a fixed
nursery, such as a rock af-
fords, to deposit their eggs.
But one species of Sea-snail
(N^atica monilifera), with a
polished, light-brown shell,
elegantly marked with dark
streaks and spots, either
leaves its egg-cluster loose,
in sandy places, or attaches it so carelessly that it fre-
quently becomes loose. These egg-clusters are really
very curious and elegantly -formed objects, which must
have often attracted the no-
tice of a rambler, who felt
puzzled to know what they
were. They are firmly ge-
latinous, or of the consist- 1^^^|fjfc(|||||||i ^-f/
ence of gristle ; transparent,
or nearly so; slightly coated nauoa monii.iffka.

with fine sand, and in shape resemble the hoof of an
animal. When dry, they look not unlike pieces of thin
Scotch oaten-bread. Their surface is marked with little
hexagonal spaces, which define the eggs. But what is
most to be admired in the structure, is the form of the

D

34 BIVALVE SHELLS.

curves wticli the hoof-like body assumes, which fit it
for lying on loose sand, without becoming deeply buried
in it. It is difficult to make this peculiar form clearly
understood by mere description, but I have said suffi-
cient to identify the object.

The MoUusca which inhabit sandy shores habitually,
and in the greatest numbers, are not the Univalve or
snail-like families, whose organization is more adapted
for crawling over rocks and sea-plants, where also they
find their appropriate food ; — but another very distinct
group of shell-coated animals, called Conchifera,* or
Testaceous Acephala, which are capable of living
buried, sometimes to a considerable depth in the sands.
Some of this class of animals are indeed confined to
rocky places, anchoring themselves in various ways per-
manently in a position, either on a rock or on the stem
of a sea-weed ; or forming hollow chambers by burrow-
ing in the solid rock itself; but the majority of species
inhabit sandy places, and their shells continually meet
us on the sandy shore, while the living animals may be
detected buried along the margin of the retreated tide.
The shell, in all these animals, consists of two principal,
saucer-shaped pieces, more or less perfectly covering the
body of the animal, and united together by a more or
less complex hinge, opened by a highly-elastic ligament.
The Scallop and the Common Cockle offer well-known
examples of such a shell: — the first having a simpler
structure, both in the hinge and in the animal, is better
adapted for explaining the general features of organi-

* " General Outlines of the Animal Kingdom, by Professor Rj-mer
Jones," p. 375, et seq.

SCALLOP. 35

zation, while the latter may be instanced as affording
modifications of structure which adapt it to the peculiar
locality to which it is confined.

On opening the valves of a living Scallop we perceive,
within the margin of the shell, a soft membrane, which
lines the whole of the inner surface, and encloses the
body of the animal as in a cloak, open in front through
the centre ; so that a curtain fringed round the edge
with innumerable slender filaments, hangs from each
valve of the shell. This membranous envelope, which is
called the mantle, exists, though under many modifica-
tions, in all the MoUusca, and indeed is one of their
most essential parts. It is by means of this organ that
all the shell-coated tribes cover themselves with the
beautiful shells which are objects of so general admi-
ration. The thickened margin of the mantle is fur-
nished with glands which secrete both colouring-matter
and carbonate of lime. From the latter material, de-
posited in cellular substance derived from the animal,
the shell is gradually formed by constant additions to
its margin ; while the colouring-matter, poured in at
the same time, gives to the outer surface all the peculiar
markings which characterize each kind. The outer
coat of the shell is therefore entirely the work of the
margin of the mantle. Its increase in thickness is an
after-process, effected by the general surface of this
organ, which throws off layers of pearly substance,
and adds them continually, one after another, to the
inner surface of the shell. Thus, as the shell increases
in size, its walls grow in thickness. In the Scallop,
among the fringing processes of the margin, are found

36 COCKLE.

a number of glittering studs of metallic brilliancy,
which are supposed to be eyes — and at least are the
only representative of those organs observed in the class,
whose habits little require such a provision. Within
the mantle are found the branchice or lungs, which
consist of four delicate leaves formed of radiating fibres
of extreme fineness. The mouth is a simple orifice,
bordered by membranous lips, and placed at one end of
the body, between the two inner leaves of the branchiae.
A great portion of the body consists of an extremely
firm muscle, round which the stomach, liver, and other
parts, are disposed, and which connects the two valves
of the shell together ; by its expansion allowing them
to open, and causing them to close by its contraction.
This most powerful muscle alone keeps the shell closed ;
and its strength must be familiar to every one who has
opened an Oyster, whose resistance to the knife ceases
only when this muscle is cut asunder.

Such are the general features of the more simple
conchiferous animals, as the Scallop and Oyster. If
we examine the Cockle, we shall find some modifica-
tions, and the full developement of a highly-organized
muscular foot. This organ exists but in a rudimentary
form in the Scallop, whose habits suggest other modes
of locomotion than those of running and leaping. The
Scallop, which inhabits deep places, where it lies on a
rocky or shelly bottom, swims or files through the water
with great rapidity, moving itself by suddenly opening
and shutting the valves. In the Cockle the first difier-
ence which strikes us is, that the edges of the mantle
are not open all round, as in the Scallop, but united

HABITS OF RAZOR-FISH. 37

together, at one side, into a short tube. On cutting a
little deeper we perceive that the shell is held together
by two muscles, one placed on each side of the central
hinge. The hinge itself is differently formed, the liga-
ment which connects the valves being external, and the
joint furnished with a nicely-fitted apparatus of tooth-
like plates. On the whole, we have a higher type of
structure, while the developement of a large muscular
foot, capable of being either wholly retracted within the
shell or protruded to a considerable length, marks a
new feature in the animal, which at once suggests a
difference in habits and destiny. That the differences
observed in the organization of the Cockle, and of the
allied genera, Mactra, Venus, &c., and which are found
in a still more advanced state in the Myce or Gapers,
and the Solen or Razor-shell, admirably fit them for
the sphere of life for which they are designed, is at
once obvious when we consider these modifications of
structure in reference to the habitat of the animal.

All these animals inhabit sandy or muddy places.
Their dead shells are among the commonest which we
meet with on almost every strand ; and they may be
found in a living state, near low-water-mark, buried in
holes, which reveal themselves by slight depressions,
from which little jets of sand and water may, every now
and then, be seen to issue. For such a life as this their
organization peculiarly fits them. Were their mantle
open on all sides, like that of the Scallop, their branchiae
would soon become choked with the sand or mud, which
would have free entrance with the water received into
the shell, and thus the animal would quickly be suffo-

38 HABITS OF BAZOR-FISH.

cated. But the tubular opening througli wliicli tlie
currents of water enter efFectuallj protects the deli-
cate breathing- apparatus. Their strong muscular foot,
too, affords an instrument with which they can with
great rapidity dig into the sand, and thus escape pur-
suit. So rapidly is this mining operation performed,
that it requires some dexterity and quickness to surprise
even a Cockle in its hole, before it has burrowed beyond
our reach. But it is not as a digging-tool only that the
foot is employed ; it is used in actual locomotion on
the surface, to enable the animal either to advance with
a crawling movement, or to make jumps along the sand.
The Common Cockle is not the least nimble of these
jumpers. It protrudes its foot to the utmost length,
bending it and fixing it strongly against the surface on
which it stands, and then, by a sudden mu.scular spring,
the animal throws itself into the air, and by repeating
the process again and again, it hops along at a rapid
pace. In the Cockle, which lives at no great depth in
the sand, the cohesion of the two membranes of the
mantle is not complete, and the tubes or siiolions are
very short. In other genera, as the Razor-shells, which
burrow to a greater depth, the lateral cohesion is much
more perfect. The body of the animal is enclosed in
a sort of sac, while the tubes, through which currents
of water enter to the branchiae are much protruded.
The animal can thus lie deeply ensconced in the sand
or mud, and keep the mouths of the tubes nearly on a
level with the surface of the sand, in direct communi-
cation with the water.

The mode in which all the animals of this class feed

STRUCTURE OF THE SHELL OF AOEPHALA. 39

is not the least curious part of their history. They
subsist, for the most part, like vegetables, without the
trouble of seeking for prey. It is brought to the door
of their shells, and they have but to " gape and swallow
it." The water which enters at the openings in the
mantle brings in with it nourishing particles of one
kind or other, minute animals, &c. These, floating about
in the shell, come under the influence of millions of
minute cilia or vibratory hairs which clothe every part
of the branchial- fringe, and which, by their constant
motion, form a current strong enough to drive forward
to the mouth whatever is floating in the water. The food
is thus presented to the lips, which have only to decide
whether to receive it or let it pass into the influence of
the retreating current, which will carry it out of the shell.
To so low a type is animal will reduced in these passion-
less creatures, which, nevertheless, exhibit the most won-
derful perfection in the construction of their minutest
organs, and the most beautiful adaptations of means to
ends. The beauty of the shells of many of them is
apparent to all — the graceful forms of many species of
Venus and Chione, — the rich colouring of the Pectens,
the Spondyli, and Tellinoi — but all these beauties are
less impressive to the mind than the exquisite structure
of the mantle by which these shells are secreted, and
the admirable order with which the very particles of
the shells are arranged: an order so exact, that the
species, to which a minute fragment of a shell belongs may
often be determined, or approximated to, by making a
microscopic examination of thinly-cut slices. Thus, an
examination of shelly particles, no bigger than grains of

40 CLASSIFICATION.

sand, may reveal to tlie naturalist mucli of the history
of the shell of which it is the debris.* The import-
ance of such a fact to the geologist is obvious, but
I speak of it here chiefly as affording an instance of
the wonderful skill with which these humble works of
an unseen Worker are constructed. " Lo, these are
parts of His ways, but how little a portion is heard
ofHim!"t

In the scientific classification, or the division into
genera, of bivalve shells, the most important characters
derivable from the shell are to be found in the modifica-
tions of the teeth and ligaments of the hinge, the po-
sition of the impressions of the adductor-muscle, and
of the line which marks the adherence of the mantle
with the shell. The first of these characters forms the
basis of the Linnsean genera. In the simpler forms of
hinge, as in the Oyster, the Scallop, and the Mussel,
there are no teeth, the hinge consisting of a ligament,
either sunk into a triangular pit, or forming a marginal
line extending along the shell. The first step in ad-
vance of this structure is found in the Mya, or Gaper,
where a single spoon-shaped tooth receives the liga-
ment. From this upward, through Lutraria, Mactra,
Cardium, &c., we are conducted to exceedingly com-
plicated dental processes; till we find in Area and its
allies an infinity of sharp teeth, like those of a pair
of combs, fitting accurately into each other. In most
genera the number and position of the teeth are nearly
the same in all the species. But in a very natural

* See Dr. Carpenter's paper on this subject in Report of British
Association, 1847. f Job xxvi. 14.

HEART URCHINS. 41

group, the genus Lucina, there is less uniformity in
the hinge than usual; and here we gladly have re-
course to the impression of the adductor-muscles, one
of which, in this genus, is prolonged in a remarkable
manner. The impression of the mantle appears also to
afford excellent generic characters, though it has only
recently been admitted by conchologists into their de-
scriptions. It may be observed, on the inside of each
valve, forming a narrow line, more glossy than the rest
of the shell, connecting one muscular impression with
the other. It forms different curves in different genera,
and exhibits many minor variations. But our limits
do not permit us to consider the niceties of classifi-
cation, and we must refer for further information on
the subject to Messrs. Forbes' and Hanley's History of
the British Mollusca.

Much lower in the scale of being than Bivalve
Mollusca, but elaborately organized, and offering many
interesting points in their history, are the Heart
Urchins, a tribe of animals enclosed in egg-like shells,
coated with spines, which inhabit all our sandy bays.
There are several recent British species, but I shall
only mention the common Heart Urchin [Amphi-
dotus cordatus), Mermaid's Head, or Sea Egg, as it is
variously called, which is found all round the coast.
When alive, it is thickly clothed with fine hair-like
spines, each of which is articulated at base with a mi-
nute nipple, forming a ball-and-socket joint, so that
the spine can move freely in all directions. The spines
are of different forms and length on different parts of
the body, and, frail as they appear, serve the purpose to

42 AFFINITY WITH STAR-FISHES.

which they are applied, of enabling the animal to sink
itself in the sand, shovelling the fine particles out of
the way, and throwing them over its back. When
thrown upon shore, the spines are usually more or less
broken, and soon are completely worn ofi", when the
dead shell resembles a heart-shaped egg, of a dirty-
white colour, frosted over with minute tubercles, which
are largest on its under surface, where the orifice of the
mouth is seen ; and it is marked, both on the back and
lower surface, with five radiating smooth depressions,
bordered with a double row oi pin-holes. These spaces,
which are much more developed on the back than on the
oral surface, are called ambulacra ; and through the
pores or pin-holes which border them, the animal pro-
trades long worm-like suckers, which serve the ofiice of
feet, and enable him to move about by a sort of ivarp-
ing motion (to speak nautically), fixing the sucker of
one fibrous cord in advance of his position, gradually
bringing the rest forward, and so dragging the body
along. Those on the oral surface are much less deve-
loped, and chiefly serve to hold the ground. It is
curious to find a creature whose organs of locomotion
are most developed on the upper surface; but we may
be assured that they are not so placed without a wise
design. It is easy to see that such an organization en-
ables the creature to recover its natural position with
ease, if accidentally inverted ; but the arrangement pro-
bably serves many other purposes.

The affinity of the Heart Urchin with the common
Egg Urchins is readily seen ; their connexion with
Star-fishes is, at first sight, less obvious. Nevertheless, a

AFFINITY WITH STAR-FISHES. 43

careful comparison of the living animals will show many
points in common : — thus the five-rayed ambulacra on the
back of the Amphidotus represent the rays of the Star-
fish ; and when we place a large number of species, re-
cent and fossil, under review, the passage from the most
branching Star-fish to the roundest Sea Egg may be
clearly made out through a beautiful gradation of forms.
We shall have occasion, probably, to return to the sub-
ject in a subsequent chapter. The family of Echinidcie,
to which these animals belong, was much richer in forms
in the earlier world than it at present appears to be ;
and from the great facility with which the hard parts of
the shelly integument may be preserved, the remains of
these creatures have come down to us in a very perfect
state. The study of them, therefore, is quite as interesting
to the geologist as to the zoologist. It is of importance
to the former to know the habits of the living species,
that he may form a judgment on what those of the
extinct kinds may have been, and thus arrive at just
conclusions on the circumstances under which the
rocks and gravels, where their remains are preserved,
have been deposited. Of the sub-tribe of Heart Urchins
(^Spatangaceoe), very numerous species, many of them of
highly curious and elegant forms, exist in the oolite and
the chalk, and abound in many tertiary deposits. They
all characterise marine strata, and generally indicate
shallow parts of the sea. Very few of the kinds now
living have been found fossilized, except in deposits
which are evidently of a very recent date. Thus in
these, as in other races of animals, there have been suc-
cessions of species, each marking its own era.

44

FLUSTKA FOLIACEA.

Among the common productions of sandy shores se-
veral species of Zoophytes present themselves, generally
in a dead state, the fleshy parts having wholly disap-
peared, leaving merely the skeleton or skin behind.
These skeletons often resemble sea-weeds, both in the
plant-like forms they assume, and in bearing along the
branches little membranous sacs, which look like mi-
nute flowers or seed-vessels, and are, indeed, organs of a
similar nature, being the ovaries in which the germs of
the young Polypes are contained. From sea-weeds the
skeletons in question may always be known by their
horny or bony texture, and their generally pale, testa-
ceous colour. There is but one group of sea-plants, the
jointed corallines, which so far resemble some of them in
being hard, and indeed stony in substance, as to lead to
their being commonly confounded, even by naturalists,

with skeletons of Zoophytes.
But these are rock-plants,
which we shall speak of in
another chapter. Most of the
Zoophytes, also, are natives
of rocky places, or of shingly
ground, such as oyster-beds,
beyond the reach of the
tide. And it is only the spe-
cies which are accidentally
thrown up by the waves
which we meet with on
strands. Of these, one of
the most common is Flustra foliacea, represented in
the annexed cut, a much-branched species, of a papery

TLUSTKi. FOLTACEA,

COMPOUND POLYPES. 45

substance and dirty-white colour, flat, and built up of
innumerable little oblong cells, placed back to back,
like those of a honey-comb, and each crowned (as may
readily be seen with the help of a pocket-lens) by four
stout spines. It is these spines which give the surface
of the Polypidom (as the plant-like body is called) its
peculiar, rough, or harsh feel, observable if the finger
be passed over the surface from the apex towards the
base.

This structure of cells [polypidom or leafy-body) is
not the remains of a single animal, but of a community
of individuals as numerous as those of one of our cities,
each of which dwelt within the narrow compass of one
of the cells, in which he was born, lived, and died. This
cell was his house, more literally his skin, within which
he enjoyed an independent existence, at the same time
that he was linked, by a common circulation^ to the
cells above and below him ; and thus had a double ex-
istence, being at the same time himself, and a part of
"the neighbours;" or rather, a part of the compound
animal represented by the polypidom itself, and whose
individuality is exhibited by the regularity of its
growth ; just as a plant, which may be considered as a
community of separate leaves, proves its individuality by
the orderly manner in which those leaves are arranged.
The life enjoyed by this common Fhistra may be taken
as an example of that of a class of animals to which it
is related, the compound Polypes whose remains, recent
and fossil, constitute an enormous portion of the fossil-
ized crust of the earth. The general form and structure
of the individual Polypes may be illustrated by the

46 THEIR DOINGS.

largest members of the group, the Sea Anemones, whose
flower-like bodies are seen expanded in every rock-pool
left by the tide. The little Polypes whicb dwelt in the
cells of the Flustra were animals of a something similar
form, though different structure, each crowned with a
star-like flower ; and the whole together exhaled an
odour, when fresh, compared by some observers to that
of the orange, by others to that of violets, and, again,
to a mixture of the odour of roses and geranium.*
The sea has its gardens as well as the land, and their
denizens more wonderful, for the flowers of the sea
enjoy animal life.

It is common, in speaking of coral-banks and islands,
to attribute the formation of these vast submarine de-
posits to the work of the Polypes, and to extol the in-
dustry of the little creatures in building up monuments
wbose vastness leaves the pyramids an immeasurable
distance behind. And, in some sense indeed, coral-
islands are their work ; but scarcely in a higher sense
than peat-bogs may be seen to be the work of mosses, or
the coal-fields those of other classes of vegetables. In
speaking of coral-islands as the work of the Polypes, we
lose sight of the fact that the island itself is one vast
polypidom, all whose living parts have, in the aggre-
gate, as much individuality — so far as they consist of a
single species — as the polypidom of the Flustra we have
been examining. In coral-banks several species unite
together, and each, of course, preserves its individuality;
but it is quite conceivable to suppose a single species,
forming a single mass, and gradually constituting a

* See Johnston's Brit. Zoop. 2nd. Edit., p. 342-3.

ALCYONIUM DIGITATUM.

47

bank or island. Now, the growth of the insular mass
no more depends on the will of the Polypes, of whose
branches it consists, than the growth of any other skele-
ton depends on the will of the animal whose organs
secrete it.

A very common Zoophyte, frequently thrown up on
sandy shores from deep water, very different in aspect
from the Flustra, but belonging to a neighbouring
family of animals, is
what is commonly call- l^^^^'r

ed Dead-men's Toes or
Hands [Alcyoniuvi digi-
tahim). This constitutes
a fleshy semi-transpa-
rent mass, coated with
a tough orange-colour-
ed skin and exceeding-
ly sportive in shape :
sometimes forming a
mere crust on the surface
of the shell to which it
adheres ; at other times
pushing up a trunk
which divides into fin-
ger-like branches. As it
lies on the shore it cer-
tainly offers few inducements, from its beauty, to re-
commend it to further notice ; yet it is one of the many
natural productions which only require to be looked at
with a moderate attention to elicit from them much
that is curious and beautiful in structure. If a piece

ALCYONIDM DIOITATOM.

48 ITS STRUCTURE.

of this Zoophyte, newly cast up, be placed in a vessel
of sea-water, it will soon acquire favour in our eyes.
The tough, orange skin, when closely looked at, will be
found studded with innumerable star-like points, each
furnished with eight rays, and marking the orifice of the
cell in which a Polype is lodged. When the polypidom
has remained a while in the water, its Polypes, if still
alive, will gradually protrude themselves from the starry
points, pushing out a cylindrical body, clear as crystal,
fluted like a column, and terminated by a flower-like,
eight-rayed mouth ; the whole surface, at last, becoming
densely clothed with these animated flowers. The un-
sightly aspect of the trunk, which reminded us of fin-
gers or toes, is now forgotten, just as we forget the fleshy
branches of a cactus when we see it clothed with its
gorgeous flowers. Nor is the internal structure of our
Zoophyte less worthy of examination and admiration.
Not to speak of its minute anatomy, a simple longitu-
dinal section, if examined with a moderate lens, will
reveal a complicated system of inosculating canals, which
form a sort of circulation through the mass, by connect-
ing with the rest of the body the Polype-cells, which are
placed immediately under the outer skin. These tubes
are bound together by a fibrous network, and lie im-
bedded in a transparent jelly, which forms the fleshy
part of the compound animal. The eggs are lodged in
the tubes, and at length discharged through the mouth.
Such is the simple structure of these animals, which
are nevertheless arranged with as much care and nicety,
in proportion to their organization, as we find in ani-
mals much higher in the scale of being.

ZOSTERA, OB CxRASS WRACK. 49

The marine plants which occupy sandy shores are not
numerous, though a great variety of beautiful kinds may
often be picked up on the beach after a gale. These
come from deeper water, either where the sand is more
firmly compacted than on the shore, or where masses of
rock interrupt its continuity, and afford a site for a
colony of sea-weeds. One marine plant, however, the
only British instance of a flowering plant inhabiting
the sea, frequently forms extensive submarine meadows
on sandy shores. This is the Grass Wrack (Zosterama-
rina), whose creeping stems, rooting at the joints, admi-
rably fit it for establishing itself on loose sands, and
forming the nucleus of a soil in which other plants may
grow. Its long, riband-like leaves, of a brilliant green
colour and satiny lustre, waving freely in the water,
afford shelter and nourishment to a host of marine
animals and plants. Great numbers of epiphytic sea-
weeds of small size, but many of them of exquisite bea,uty,
may be collected on the leaves of Zostera, which are fre-
quented also by numerous Zoophytes, and by the smaller
gasteropodous Mollusca. A Zostera-h^^ is therefore
always worth examining. But it is chiefly when the
Zostera grows beyond the reach of the tide, and is raised
by dragging hooks through it, that it is found so well
clothed with Sea-weeds and Zoophytes. Nearer shore it
frequently collects muddy particles, which defile all that
grows upon it. This plant is collected on many parts
of the coast, and even imported in large quantities from
the Baltic, being sold, under the market name of Alva
inarina, to the manufacturers of cheap bedding. It is
said to form a very tolerable bed, and certainly a cheap

50 GEOLOGICAL SPECULATIONS.

one. It also makes an excellent material for packing glass
and earthenware.

But it is time to take leave of the productions of the
sandy shore, and explore those that seek a firmer footing
on submarine rocks, the truly prolific soil of the sea. I
pass by the intermediate stages of shingly shores, and
shores covered with boulders, neither of which are fa-
vourable to the growth of marine plants, or the shelter-
ing of animals. On loose-lying boulders few sea-weeds,
except FuGus nodosus, a coarse leathery species, with
large air-bladders, and a few unsightly Ulvce, are
found ; while the animals are restricted to the Common
Limpet, and the least attractive of the Sea Anemones
(^Actinia Meserabryanthemum), with scabby patches of
Balani and Mussels, a few Periwinkles, &c. By ex-
ploring the smaller stones lying on such a shore, many
curious Annelides and small Molluscs, small Crabs, &c.
may be captured ; and, therefore, these shores should not
be neglected by the naturalist : but the labour is often
disproportionate to the value of the crop he may expect
to reap. The study of such beaches will, however,
always interest the geologist whose speculations take a
wider range, and who finds, in the slowly changing
character of such a beach, the explanation of many of
the appearances presented to him on land. The gradual
formation and accumulation of gravel by the action of
water, and the commencement of conglomerate rocks,
are often beautifully exhibited. Nor must the debris of
marine shells, &c., which marks the limits of ordinary
tides, be omitted in the general survey. It is curious to
watch the gradual formation of beds of these remains,

"in the beginning." 51

and to trace them, as may frequently be done, above the
present sea-mark, into fossil-beds filled with the remains
of existing species. Following up these deposits further,
we gradually find, by the introduction of new forms
which no longer exist in a living state on our shores,
that we are challenging the videttes which stand sentinel
to another territory, inhabited by a different race of
beings. And thus we are led, step by step, and often
insensibly, far back into the dreamy regions of the early
history of our planet ; into times and seasons when the
sun looked down on no dwelling of man, but when his
beams gave life to countless tribes of creatures whose
race is now run, and whose half-told tale is found written
in the earth or the rock. If their race be extinct and
their glory departed, at least they live in marble, and
human greatness can often boast no more. Finally, we
reach a time when the waves of a primeval sea sounded
hollow on a naked shore, and no ear listened to their
music,

" Sky, sun, and sea, were all the universe ;
The sky, one blue interminable arch,
Without a breeze, a wing, a cloud : the sun
Sole in the firmament, but in the deep
Redoubled ; where the circle of the sea,
Invisible with calmness, seemed to lie.
Within the hollow of a lower heaven."

Montgomery.

^*^

TOB ABBEr ROCKS AKD HEADLAND, WITH BEItRV HEAB IN" THE DISTANCE.

CHAPTEE III.

THE KOCKY SEA-SHORE j SEA-WEEDS.

The success of a marine-botanist, or Algologist, on a
rocky coast will depend more on the extent of surface
uncovered at low-water-mark, and on the outward con-
formation of the rocks of which the tidal margin is com-
posed, than on the geological structure of the district.
Soil in some measure aifects the vegetation of the sea,
but not to any great extent. The roots of sea- plants
bear little resemblance to those of land-plants. Few are
fibrous, and few indeed send out extensive bundles of
fibres to seek through a varying soil the substances
necessary for their perfect growth. The roots of sea-
weeds must be regarded more in the nature of holdfasts,
destined to keep the vegetable fixed in a proper locality.

ROOTS OF SEA-WEEDS.

53

than as separate organs contributing to the nourishment
of the body. With this end in view, Nature furnishes
sea-weeds, in the great majority of instances, with a
simple conical disc, by which they strongly adhere to the
smoothest surface ; and when a more root- like holdfast

ROOT OF LAMINAiilA.

is given, it is merely a multiplication of such discs, or
a strengthening by lateral ropes the original gripe taken
of the rock. Eoots of this nature may be seen in the
large Oar- weeds {Laminarice) of our coasts, particularly
in the L. digitata, a species with a long cylindrical
walking-stick-stem, crowned with a broad leaf, cloven
into a great number of ribbon-like segments. In this
plant, while young, the root consists of a few rudimen-
tary processes : — as it advances in growth, and as new
props are required to support the additional weight, the
branches of the root lengthen and others are gradually
added, till a compact mass of interwoven fibres is formed,

54 ROOTS OF SEA-WEEDS ACT AS HOLDFASTS.

each of whicli takes a separate gripe of the rock, by the
disc at its extremity, and all combined form a conical
mass, representing the simple disc of the Fuci and most
other sea-weeds. On some sandy shores, there are sea-
weeds with much more extensive roots, — roots that re-
semble those of grasses which cover sand- downs, extend-
ing to a considerable depth in the sand, branching out
in every direction, and forming a compact bed of fibres,
and a firm foundation for the vegetation. Such roots
are obviously induced by the nature of the soil on which
the plant grows, and would be superfluous on a rocky
bottom.

The roots of sea- weeds seem to be little concerned in
the active growth of the vegetable, except in the earlier
stages. Like all the lower vegetables included in the
class Cryptogamia, the sea-weeds are composed of a sim-
ple aggregation of cells,* which form a more or less ho-
mogeneous body through which fluids freely pass, and
whose whole surface absorbs nourishment from the sur-
rounding water. This is the reason why the geological
nature of the district has little relation to that of the
marine vegetation which clothes the rocks. But the
character of this vegetation is greatly varied by the out-
ward form of the rocky masses. Thus, on a shore com-
posed of granite-rocks, where the masses are rounded and

* A cell^ in botanical language, means a little bag-like body, com-
posed of membrane, and containing a living substance capable of spon-
taneous growth by multiplication or division of its parts. Of such
little bodies, millions of which may be contained within a cubic inch,
all the soft parts of vegetables are composed. In sea-weeds the cells
are often of large size.

LOCALITIES. 55

lumpjj with few interstices or cavities in which water
will constantly lie ; and presenting to the waves sloping
ridges, along which the water freely runs up and down,
very few species of sea-weeds, and these only of the
coarsest kinds, are commonly to be met with. And thus
the vegetation of granitic shores may be characterised as
poor. But this poverty is owing altogether to outward
form. For, wherever the granite affords a tolerably flat
surface, interspersed with deep cavities in which pools
of water are constantly maintained, a vegetation will be
found as varied and copious as on stratified shores of a
totally different composition of rock. The best locali-
ties are those in which there are the greatest number of
rock-pools of moderate extent, with perpendicular sides,
and a depth varying from one to three feet. Pools of
this character, though situated near high-water-mark,
so as to communicate with the sea only when the tide
is near its height, often produce all the species which
are considered to be characteristic of extreme low-water-
mark. Their depth is sufficient to keep the water at a
sufficiently even temperature, and their steep sides afford
that shade which the more delicate sea-weeds require.
On chalky shores I have observed that sea-weeds are
poor, and few in number. And this I attribute chiefly
to the general absence of such rock-pools, though no
doubt the soft nature of the rock has its influence, and
the white surface, reflecting a greater quantity of light
than the more delicate Florideoe can endure, drives
such species to a greater depth of water on chalky
shores than on others, and thus beyond the influence of
the tide, or the reach of the botanist. The frequent

56 THE LITTOEAL ZONE.

occurrence of favourable aspects on shores composed of
sandstone, or of clay-slate — and the colour of these
rocks, render such shores the most prolific in species.

I shall now take a rapid survey of the vegetation
which characterises what is termed the littoral zone,* or
that belt of rock or shingle which extends from high-
water to low-water-mark. Within this space a large
proportion of the sea-weeds of our latitude is produced ;
and the remainder, with the exception of a few strag-
glers that extend into deeper water, occur within the
limit of two, or, at most, of four fathoms beyond the
lowest water of spring-tides.

Sea-weeds are usually classed by botanists in three
great groups, each of which contains several families,
which are again divided into genera ; and these, in their
turn, are composed of one or many species. The num-
ber of species as yet detected on the British coasts is
about 370, and they are grouped into 105 genera. I
cannot, in this place, enter into the niceties of classifi-
cation to which botanists resort in working out the his-
tory of these plants, but must confine myself to the
general features of the great groups, and their distribu-
tion. Taken in the order in which they present them-
selves to us on the shore, and limiting each by its most
obvious character, that of colour, we may observe : — that
the group of Green Sea-weeds ((7A^orospe?'W2eoB) abound
near high-water-mark, and in shallow tide-pools within
the tidal limit ; — that the Olive-coloured {llelano-
spermece) cover all exposed rocks, feebly commencing at

* See Prof. Edward Forbes, in Geol. Surv. Memoirs.

CHLOROSPEKME-ffi, OR GREEN SEA- WEEDS. 57

the margin of high-water, and increasing in luxuriance
with increasing depth, through the whole belt of ex-
posed rock ; — but that the majority of them cease to
grow soon after they reach a depth which is never laid
bare to the influence of the atmosphere: — and that the
Red Sea-weeds {Eliodospermeae) gradually increase in
numbers, and in purity of colour, as they recede from
high- water-mark, or grow in places where they enjoy a
perfect shade, or nearly total absence of light, and are
never exposed to the air, or subjected to a violent
change of temperature.

The Green Sea-weeds are the simplest in structure,
and the least varied in species, on different coasts, and
consequently the least interesting to the collector of
specimens. With the exception of the beautiful genus
Gladoiihora, which contains about twenty species, our
British Chlorosperms are chiefly composed of UIvcb and
Enteromorphce, whose forms vary with so little order,
that it becomes difficult, and, in some instances, hope-
less, to attempt to classify the varieties. The Entero-
morphcB are the first to make their appearance about
high- water- mark, covering loose boulders or smooth
rocks with a slippery vesture of bright green, or fill-
ing the shalloAv tide-pools with grassy fronds. These
plants consist of tubular membranes, simple or branch-
ed, appearing to the naked eye like fine green silk,
and showing to the microscope a surface composed of
minute cells, full of granules. The commonest species
near high-water-mark is E. compressa, which com-
mences of a very stunted size, and with thread-like
branches, if exposed to the air, and gradually acquires

58 CHLOKOSPERME^, OR GREEN SEA-WEEDS.

length and breadth as it grows in deeper water. When
fully developed, it has a frond divided nearly to the
root into many long, subsimple branches, which bear a
second or third series, all of them much attenuated at
their insertion, and more or less distended at the ex-
tremity. The diameter of the tube varies extremely,
and the broader and simpler individuals are only to be
known from E. intestinalis, by their being branched ;
the tube in the latter species being absolutely simple.
To the EnteromorflicB succeed Uhce, distinguished from
Enter omor2ohcie merely by being flat, instead of tubular.
The beautiful lettuce-like plaited leaves found in tide-
pools, belong to plants of this genus, the commonest
species of which is U. latissima. It has a very broad,
more or less ovate, plaited leaf, of a brilliant green,
and remarkably glossy, when in perfection reflecting
glaucous tints, if seen through clear sea-water, and is
certainly a very ornamental species. It is sometimes
brought to table as a laver, or marine sauce, but it is
much inferior in flavour to the Purple Laver {PorpTiyra
laciniata), a plant of the same family, equally beauti-
ful, equally common, and more generally collected for
food. The Purple Laver grows on exposed rocks near
low-water-mark, and though called purple, assumes at
difierent seasons of the year different shades of colour,
according to its age. In form it resembles the Green
Laver (Ulva latissima), but is of a still more delicate
substance, consisting of a perfectly transparent and
very thin membrane, elegantly dotted with closely -set
grains, to which it owes its colour. When these grains
are in perfection they are of a dark violet-purple j and

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF ULViE. 59

this is the case in winter and early spring, when the
plant is collected for table. Later in the year the
fronds are of stunted size, and more or less olivaceous
colour, and much less suitable for gathering. The plant
appears to be of very rapid growth and decay, a few
weeks sufficing for its full developement. Like many
fugitive plants, however, it is not confined to one
season, but continues to develope throughout the
year ; but with this diiference, that the plants deve-
loped in summer are very much smaller, more tena-
cious, and of a dull colour. These last are regarded
by some authors as a different species, and called
P. wmbilicata.

There is a circumstance connected with the history of
our common UIvcb, Enteromorphce, and Fori^hyrce, which
deserves notice. Most of the species common to the
European shores are found in all parts of the world to
which a marine vegetation extends. In the cold waters
of the Arctic sea, TJlva latissima, Enter omorpTia com-
pressa, and Porphyra laciniata, vegetate in abundance ;
and these same plants skirt the shores of tropical seas,
and extend into the southern ocean as far as Cape Horn.
Vegetation, at least with its most obvious features,
ceases in the south at a much lower parallel than in the
Arctic regions, and the shores of the Antarctic lands
appear to be perfectly barren, producing not even an
JJlva. But the fact of the great adaptability of plants of
this family to different climates, is beautifully illustrated
by the last .land-plant collected by the acute naturalist
attached to our Antarctic expedition. The last plant
that struggles with perpetual winter was gathered at

60

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

ULVA CBISPA.

Cockburn Island, 64° S. (a latitude no greater than that
of Archangel, where the vine is said to ripen in the open
air), and this proved to be an
Ulva ( U. crisim*), identical with a
small species which may often be
seen in this country on old thatch,
or on damp walls and rocks, form-
ing extensive patches of small green
leaves. It is not common to find
marine plants with so wide a distribution ; but a nearly
equal extent of sea is characterized by another of the

British Chlorosperms, of
a much greater size and
more complex structure.
On most of the rocky
coasts of Britain may be
gathered, in tide-pools,
or rocks near low-water-
mark, an Alga of a bright
green colour and spongy
texture, cylindrical, and
much branched, the
branches dividing pretty
regularly by repeated
forkings, and the whole

CODIOM TOME^]T0BC^

invested, Avhen seen un-
der water, with a downy coat of colourless filaments.
The name of this plant is CocUuin tomentosum. Under
the microscope it is found to be wholly composed of

* See " Flora Antarctica," vol. ii. p. 498. In the northern hemi-
sphere, Ulva crispa extends to Spitzbergen, in lat. 80°.

OF IJLVA AND CODIUM.

61

small threads, of a tenacious, membranous consistence,
filled with a dense granular fluid, closely and intri-
cately matted together ; the threads in the centre of the
branches having a longitudinal direction, while those
of the circumference are horizontal, presenting their
closely-set tips to the surface of the frond. This plant
abounds on the shores of the Atlantic, from the north
of Europe to the Cape of Good Hope : it appears to be
equally common in the Pacific, extending along the
whole western coast of the American Continent : it is
found in the Indian sea, and on the shores of Australia
and New Zealand : nor is there any certain character
by which the specimens of one country may be known
from those of another.

Allied to the Codium in
structure, and not uncom-
mon in rock-pools, is a slen-
der and extremely elegant
little plant, Bryojms plumo-
sa, which consists of a mul-
titude of soft green feathers
gracefully connected toge-
ther. Its substance is ex-
ceedingly flaccid, and the
branches fall together when
removed from the water,
but immediately expand on
re-immersion. Few of our
marine plants are more beautiful ; and the pleasure of
admiring its graceful characters may be indefinitely
prolonged, as it is one of the plants which may be most

BRT0P3IS PLTIMOaA.

62

AFFINITIES OF BRYOPSIS.

easily grown in bottles of sea- water. Whilst it continues
to vegetate, it will keep the water sweet and pure, and
no care is needed except to close the mouth of the bottle,
so as to prevent evaporation. The Bryopsis, in all its
characters, has the structure of a vegetable ; nor does
it much resemble the Zoophites in aspect. And yet it
is one of those plants which closely link the lower mem-
bers of the vegetable kingdom with those of the ani-
mal. Through Bryopsis, the passage is very clear into
Acetahularia, an elegant Mediterranean plant, which
closely resembles a Zoophite, and which was, indeed, till
lately, classed in that division of animals. Instances of
this kind of seeming con-
nexion between the two great
kingdoms of the organized
world, meet us frequently
among the lower groups of
either, and often, as in this
case, where connexion is
least looked for. The genus
Cladophora, to which I have
already alluded, consists of
the branching species of the
green division of the old ge-
nus Covfewa. These plants
are formed of strings of cells, one cell growing from the
apex of another, so as to form a jointed thread. The spe-
cies are distinguished by diiFerences in the branching, in
the proportionate length of the cells, and in their diame-
ter; and nearly all of them are beautiful objects. They
mostly form scattered tufts, in rock-pools, but some

DOPHORA. HDTCHTMSI.E.

I

MELANOSPERME^. 63

occur gregariously in extensive patches, covering rocks
or Fuci with a bright green fringe.

I shall now notice a few of the more common of the
Olive-coloured group of Sea-weeds, or Melanospermece,
so called because their reproductive grains, or spores,
are of a dark colour, or so opake that they appear dark
when seen by transmitted light. This group consists
of much more perfectly-formed plants than those we
have just noticed. They are, also, commonly of much
greater size : the largest of all sea-plants belong to
them. The Olive Sea-weeds commence to grow, as I have
already said, just within the margin of the tide, and
they extend throughout the whole of the littoral zone,
and to the depth of one or two fathoms below low-
water-mark. The first species we meet with is Fucus
canaliculahcs, the smallest and most slender of the
British Fuci. It grows in scattered tufts, one or two
inches high, on rocks about high-water-mark, and is at
once known by having narrow, channelled stems and
branches, without air-vessels. It rarely grows in water
of a greater depth than three or four feet, and never in
places where it is not exposed for several hours daily to
the air. To it succeed Fucus nodosus, a large species,
with leathery, thong-like stems, distended at intervals
into knob-like air-vessels, and covered in winter and
spring with bright-yellow berries ; and F. vesiculosus, a
more membranous kind, having a forked leaf, traversed
by a mid-rib, and bearing numerous air-vessels in pairs,
at either side of the rib. This species is gregarious,
covering wide patches of rock from a foot or two be-
low high-water- to low-water-mark. Growing thus, at

64 COMMON FUCI.

different times, in a very different depth of water, it varies
greatly in size. The specimens found near high-water-
mark are small, and generally without air-vessels, these
organs not being required to float the plant in shallow
water ; while all that grow in deep water are abundantly
provided with them, and have fronds several feet in
length, that stand erect in the water, buoyed up by the
air-vessels. About the level of half-tide a fourth species
of Fucus makes its appearance, Fucus serratus, distin-
guished from all the rest by its toothed margin, and
the absence of air-vessels. This species abounds on all
the rocks to the limit of low-water, growing, like F.
vesictdosus, in society. These four species are all the
true Fuci that are common to every part of the coast,
and that impart to the vegetation of the rocky sea-
beach its peculiar olive-brown character. All of them,
but particularly F. serratus and F. vesiculosus, are em-
ployed in the manufacture of kelp, an impure carbonate
of soda, obtained by burning the dried stems of these
plants. Before the alteration of the tariff, and especially
in war-time, when the market was badly supplied with
alkali, great revenues were obtained by the owners of
rocky shores from the trade in kelp ; but, now that soda
is procured by an inexpensive chemical process from
rock-salt, the manufacture of kelp has been much neg-
lected, and has dwindled down to insignificance. At pre-
sent the only demand for this commodity, is from the ma-
nufacturers of iodine, the chief source of that valuable
substance being found in the Algce of this family. It
is much to be regretted that a trade, once so valuable to
a large population on the western coast of Scotland and

rucus VESicuLosus. 65

Ireland, where the means of livelihood are scanty, should
have ceased to yield a profitable return ; but these are
revolutions to which all manufactures are subject. At
some future time other uses may be found for the
abundant crop of these plants which our shores supply.
At present large quantities come into use, either in
the state of ashes, or in a fermented state, as a valuable
manure for green crops. Their value as manure is said
to be enhanced in districts most removed from the sea ;
and this may not be merely on the principle that "cows
afar off have long horns j " but the mineral substances
they contain may be less abundant in the soils of inland
districts than in those nearer the coast, to which the
spray of the sea must carry a considerable quantity of
these salts.

None of our common Fuci are known beyond the
waters of the Atlantic except F. vesiculosus, which
occurs in the Mediterranean Sea, and again in the
Pacific, on the Western shore of North America. This
species, indeed, is the most patient of the family in
enduring a great variety of conditions. As to climate, it
submits to the frozen rigour of the arctic circle, and to
the tropical fervour of the Canary Islands. In the latter
country, however, it appears to be on the very verge of
extinction, the fronds being reduced to the smallest
compass, consisting of little more than the root and the
fructification ; just as we see annuals grown in a poor
and dry soil frequently dwindle to a pair of leaves and a
flower, and these of the smallest size. Comparing the
specimens from the Canary Islands with those grown in
deep water in the north of Europe, we find so much

G6 SEASON OF REST.

difference, that they will hardly be suspected of being
relations ; yet the two forms may readily be traced
into each other, and this without going beyond the
evidence collected on our own shore. A change similar
to that caused by heat in the plant from the Canaries
is induced in this country by the very opposite con-
ditions of fresh water and muddy soil. The Fucus
halticus of northern writers, which is found in very
muddy enclosed arms of the sea, near high-water-mark,
and under the influence of fresh water, is a variety of
F. vesiculosibs much resembling, especially when in
fruit, the starved variety found in the Canaries. This
affords us a striking instance of the opposite means
which Nature often employs to bring about the same
result, and may teach us that the'adaptations which we
find in the various races of animals and plants have
some other controlling cause than the circumstances in
which the species find themselves. All we can determine
on this subject seems to be, that every species of animal
or plant has its natural condition, known only, in the
first instance, to the Author of Nature ; and that a de-
parture from that natural condition, in either direction,
will alter the character of the individual. But, until we
have tested the matter by direct experiment, we cannot
pronounce on the result. No one, by reasoning on the
subject, would be prepared for the fact that the heat of
the tropical sea would exercise the same transforming
power on a particular plant as the mud and fresh water
of a colder climate. A similar difference in the causes
which effect the same end, may be noticed in comparing
the means by which Nature provides a season of rest for

SEASON OF REST. 67

the plants of tropical and of temperate climates. In
temperate climates the cold and wet of autumn and
winter strip the trees, and reduce the greater part of the
vegetable kingdom to a state of torpor. Between the
tropics * the same effect is brought about by the heat
and drought of summer. The leaves of tropical trees
(within certain parallels) are burned off the branches,
while buds, coated with hard scales, are formed, that
preserve the embryo foliage till the return of genial
showers shall call forth the dormant powers of life. A
tropical forest, so stripped, has much of the aspect of a
wintry one in a temperate climate ; and, physiologically,
the condition of vegetation is the same. But, what can be
more opposite than the atmosphere — the light through
which the pictures are seen ? The snow-clad earth, the
clear and bracing air, and the dark -blue sky of a cli-
mate like that of Norway or Canada, contrast strongly
with the burnt-up, dusty soil, air like the breath of a
furnace, the hazy distance in which every object dances
with a flickering motion, and the fierce heat that pours
down from a pale blue sky. Yet the effect on vege-
tation is the same : — a season of rest is provided in
either case, which is absolutely necessary to ensure
the healthy growth of the plants of these opposite
climates.

Close along the margin of the sea, either above or
below high-water-mark, may be seen on most rocky
shores, small circular somewhat scurfy patches, consist-
ing of minute, rigid, branching plants. These, when
dry, look perfectly black, but on the return of moisture
* See Gardner's " Travels in Brazil," p. 242, &c.

LIOHINA PTGM^A AND CONFINIS.

68 SUBMARINE LICHENS,

exhibit a clear olive-tint, while their tissues soften,
and the frond becomes pliable. The patches I allude
to consist of two species or
varieties of the genus Lichina ;
the snaaller one, L. Confinis,
growing just above high-water
mark, where it is wetted by the
spray without being submerg-
ed ; the larger, L. pygmcea,
growing in places inundated
every tide. These little plants have sometimes been
considered as Algce, sometimes as belonging to the class
of Lichens. By those who regard them as Algse they
are placed in the group of Melanosperms ; but their
fructification little resembles that of any of the genu-
ine members of this group, while it has a consider-
able afiinity to that of many Lichens. Most botanists
now, therefore, consider them, as their first observers
proposed, to belong to the true Lichens. Their subma-
rine locality alone connects them with the Algse. But
submerged Lichens are by no means anomalous ; several
undoubted members of that family grow in places ha-
bitually flooded, such as the rocky beds of mountain
rivulets, or even along the margin of the sea, within the
range occupied by the LicMnce.

About the limit of ordinary low-water, and to the
depth of one or two fathoms beyond that limit, the rocky
shore is fringed with a broad belt of luxuriant sea-
plants, mostly consisting of the family called Laminarieoe
— among which some of the larger members of the
Fucoideoe, and a great number of the Floridece, or Eed

LAMINARIE^. 69

Sea-weeds, find a favourable locality. The Laminariece
or Oar-weeds, are the largest of all sea-plants. Their
stout, woody stems, and broad, ribbon-like, glossy, olive
leaves, must be familiar to every one. When seen
through clear water, as you pass over them in a boat,
they form a picture resembling a miniature forest of
palm-trees, as their great fronds stand expanded in the
water, while fishes swim in and out among the flat
branches. None of those of our climate attain a length
of more than twelve or fourteen feet, and even at this
size the weight of a single frond is very great. But, these
are pigmies compared to some of the gigantic Lami-
nariece of the Southern, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans,
where great trunks, twenty feet long and upwards, sup-
port huge bunches of leaves that form when expanded
a circle of equal diameter. One species is said to have
stems reaching to the enormous length of fifteen hun-
dred feet, buoyed up by air-vessels from a great depth,
and extending afterwards for a considerable distance
along the surface of the sea. This plant, Macrocystis
pyrifera, is found through most parts of the Pacific
Ocean, and abounds in the southern parts of the Atlan-
tic, but has not been noticed in the Northern Atlantic.
Its stems are slender, becoming much branched, and
bear a profusion of lanceolate, serrated leaves, each of
which springs from an oblong air-vessel. Another spe-
cies {Nereocystis Lutheanus) from the north-west coast
of America has stems, resembling whipcord, three hun-
dred feet in length which support a great air-vessel at
their extremities, six or seven feet long, crowned with a
bunch of dichotomous leaves, each thirty or forty feet in

70

DICTYOTE^.

length. On the air-vessels of this gigantic sea-weed, the
Sea Otter, according to the observations of an excellent
observer,* finds a favourite resting-place, when fishing ;
while the long, tenacious stems furnish the rude fisher-
men of the coast with excellent fishing-lines.

In tide-pools exposed to the sun, and also on the bot-
tom of the sea beyond the tidal influence, the family of
Dictyotece h found; generally scattered, but sometimes
growing in society. These are the most beautiful
members of the group of Melanosperms, and some of

them, especially Pa-
dina Pavonia, or the
Peacock's-tail, highly
curious productions.
This charming plant
is only known with us
on the south coast of
England, where it oc-
curs in many places ;
but it is one of the com-
monest shore-plants of
the tropical sea, and
also fringes the mar-
gin of the Mediterranean. It is an annual, appearing
with the early summer, and fading before the autumn
sets in. When growing, its fan-shaped fronds are
rolled up into cups, while the delicate fibres with which
they are bordered, and which form concentric bands over
their surface, decompose the rays of light, and reflect
the most beautiful glaucous and prismatic tints. The

* Dr. Henry MerteBS, in Hook. Bot. Misc. vol. iii. p. 4, 5.

PAJ5INA PAVONIA.

OLIVE SEA-WEEDS. 71

remainder of the Melanosperms, including the S'phace-
larice and Ectocarpi, are plants of small size, filamentous
and much-branched, and form bunches or tufts, growing
for the most part on other plants. Thus, most of the
Fuci and Laminariece become covered, as the season ad-
vances, with small parasites belonging to these families :
— and others grow on the smaller Alg33 in tide-pools.
Several are objects of much beauty.

With a short account of the Red Sea-weed or Rho-
dosperms I shall conclude this hasty sketch of the
various tribes of AlgJB. The Red Sea-weeds are by far
the most numerous in species, the most beautiful in
form and colour, and the most perfect or elaborate
in structure of all the class of Algfe. They also
characterise a greater depth of water. Many of them
grow beyond the influence of the tide, and can only
be procured by the dredge, except when a strong gale
loosens them from their position, and throws them up
on the beach. The majority grow close to low-water-
mark, and are to be seen only for an hour or two at the
spring-tides : so that a person visiting the shore at neap-
tides may leave it ignorant of half its treasures. The
favourite locality of the more delicate Floridece (as the
Rhodosperms are frequently called) is on the perpendi-
cular sides of deep tide-pools under the shade of larger
plants. In such places, either Fucus serratus or Himan-
thalia lorea commonly grows on the top of the rocky
margin, while the fronds rest on the surface of the
water. On removing the Fuci a host of delicately beau-
tiful Floridece will often be revealed. This is the usual
position of the various species of Griffithsia, some of the

72

HABITS OF THE PLORIDEiE,

GRIFF1TH9IA COBALILINA

most beautiful of the filiform Algoe. Where the pools
are not shaded by large
plants on the margin, the
northern aspect will be found
most fertile, especially when
ledges of rock project be-
yond the rest, and such is
the favourite locality of
Delesserias anguinea, whose
beautiful rosy leaves, veined
with darker strise, are the
delight of amateur collectors
of sea- weeds.

Most Florideoe flourish in clear water. But this is
not the case with several of the Callithamnia, the most
delicate of the filiform kinds, whose slender pinnated
fronds, when laid out on paper, resemble minutely beau-
tiful tracery-work, and mock the attempts of the pencil
to do them justice. The species of this genus flourish
most in places where a coating of mud covers the rocks,
or where the water itself is habitually muddy. Often
the botanist, searching for Callithamnia, must content
himself with bringing home handfuls of mud which
merely exhibit the presence of some red filaments, till
washed out : yet from this unpromising soil the most
charming plants are often procured. A well-known
and most successful collector of these plants, is in the
habit of visiting, at low-water, in a boat, the muddy
base of a small harbour-pier, and gathering indiscri-
minately any lump of red which the muddy surface of
the pier aifords : — and from the washings of these lumps,

VARIETY OF COLOTIR.

73

POI-. PAKASITICA,

CalUthamnium gracillimum, C .tMoyoideum, C hyssoideum
and Dasyaocellata, and other
rarities are procured. Mud-
banks yield some of the most
beautiful Polysiphonioe, as
for instance, F. variegata ;
but most of this genus pre-
fer the purer water of rock-
pools. The exquisite P. pa-
rasitica is found only in
clear water, at the verge of
low tide or on the banks of
Nullipores, which character-
ise a still lower level.

I have spoken of the Floridece, or Rhodosperms, as
the Red Sea-weeds ; but it must not be supposed that
they are all of a clear red-colour, — nor does colour sup-
ply us with more than an imperfect guide in determining
them. The red colour appears to depend in great de-
gree on the amount of direct light which reaches the
growing plant. The same species which exhibits a full
red colour when growing in the shade, assumes every
variety of paler tint till it ends in a clear yellow, as it
grows under the influence of sunshine, and in shallower
water. This is very apparent in the Chondrus crispus,
or Carrigeen, well known for producing a peculiar gela-
tinous principle used in cookery and medicine. When
this plant grows in places shaded from the sun, its fronds
are of a very dark purple, reflecting prismatic colours
from the surface : but growing, as it frequently does, in
shallow pools exposed to full sunlight, it becomes green

74 TJSES IN THE ARTS.

and even yellowish white before it altogether ceases to
vegetate. Similar changes may be observed in many
other common species, especially in Geranium ruhrum,
and Laurencia pinnatifida. Light does not always act
as a destroyer of colour among these plants — in some
tribes it affects them by darkening the purples into
browns, as in the Polysiphonice. Among these, P. /as^*-
giata, which grows parasitically on Fucus nodosus, in
places where it is exposed to the air for several hours
every day, assumes the dark brown of a member of the
olive-group. Mere colour, therefore, may lead the stu-
dent into error, if he decide solely by it, to the neglect
of peculiarities of structure and fructification.

Several of the Ehodosperms are in different countries
either employed as articles of food or used in the arts,
in the manufacture of strong sizes and glues. Their
nourishing principle appears to reside in a peculiar
compound found in several kinds, to which the name
Carrigeenin has been given by the chemists. It was
first extracted, as the name imports, from Chondrus
crispus, the Carrigeen of our coasts, a plant which may
be collected to an unlimited extent on all rocky parts of
the British shores. The fronds, properly prepared by
drying, will keep for any length of time, and a strong
jelly may be extracted, when required, by simply boiling
in water. Similar jellies are yielded by other species of
Chondrus, as well as by the Gigartince, Gracilarice, and
certain Gelidia, some of which yield mucilages of so
great strength as to be employed as glue. There have
recently been imported into this country samples of an
eastern species, Gracilarta spinosa, which, under the

CORALLINES. 75

name Agar-Agar, is largely consumed in China, botli
as an article of food, and as yielding a very strong
glue. The jelly prepared from it is certainly superior to
that yielded by our Chondrus. A Swan River species
{G-igartina speciosa, Sond.) affords a gelatine of perhaps
equal value. Both these might be obtained in abun-
dance, should a demand for them arise. These few in-
stances, selected out of a multitude, show that the A Igce
are not undeserving the notice of the economist, espe-
cially in a country where the constant increase of popu-
lation renders desirable every effort to increase the sup-
ply of food. That the vast stores of Carrigeen which
our coasts afford, have been wholly neglected during
the recent famine, is the result partly of ignorance,
and partly of the invariable companion of ignorance,
— prejudice.

The only other Rhodosperms which I shall notice are
the very curious tribe of Corallinece, — the jointed Coral-
lines of Linnaeus, — plants which have been regarded, al-
most universally since the time of Ellis, as members of
the animal kingdom. This tribe is most numerous in
species as we approach the tropics, and the British ex-
amples are not many ; but one of them, Corallina offici-
nalis, is so common on all our coasts, that it must have
attracted the notice of every one who has paid any atten-
tion to marine productions, and it will serve as a type of
the family. It will at once be seen that this plant differs
from other sea-weeds in being of a calcareous nature,
effervescing when thrown into an acid solution ; and in
this respect it resembles a true coral. It neither produces
Polypes, however, nor exhibits any animal character.

76

CORALLINES.

CORAJLLIITA 0FPIC1NAI.IS,

while it yields spores, contained in receptacles perfectly
analogous to those of the
AlgaB of the red series, to
which its colour also allies it.
These spores were observed
and figured by Ellis ; and it
is therefore the more strange
that the vegetable nature
of the family has not been
earlier acknowledged. Co-
rallina officinalis generally
occurs in society, covering
the bottoms of shallow tide-
pools with its jointed fronds, which afford a welcome
resting-place to many of the smaller Algae and to marine
animals. It always springs from a broad, calcareous
base, often of considerable thickness, which incrusts
the surface of the rock. It commences to vegetate,
though feebly, immediately within the limit of high-
water, and extends throughout the whole littoral zone,
gradually acquiring fuller developement as the water
deepens ; and the best specimens are always to be found
nearest to low-water-mark. It is occasionally dredged
from the depth of three or four fathoms, or perhaps
more ; but specimens from water of that depth are less
perfect than those collected about low-water-mark,
clearly showing that, at that level, the species is in the
situation best adapted to its nature. The species of the
genus Corallina are very imperfectly known, and many
supposed species may ultimately prove to be merely
varieties of this common and very generally diffused

NULLIPORES. 77

plant, which, in some form or other, inhabits the shores
of most temperate latitudes.

Along with Corallina officinalis, and also creeping
among the roots of various other Algse, may often be
seen the fronds of a lichenoid species of calcareous plant,
Melohesia (or Nulliporci) lichenoides, affixed to the sur-
face of the rocky soil. This is of the same family as the
Corallina, but simpler in structure. By some authors
it is supposed to be merely the imperfectly developed
state of a Coralline ; but the evidence for this opinion
does not appear satisfactory, and in the imperfect state
of our knowledge it is better to consider these plants dis-
tinct. In appearance they are widely different, though
similar in microscopic structure and substance. The
Melohesia belongs to a group of the family, characteristic
of a deeper water, and which we shall have occasion to
speak of in our chapter on Dredging.

The very imperfect outline which I have just given of
the several groups of marine plants, is all that the plan
of this little volume admits of, without trenching too
much on subjects of perhaps more general interest. The
great elegance of many of the sea-weeds, and the ease
with which specimens may be preserved, retaining much
of their original beauty, attract many persons who
occasionally visit the sea-shore ; and sea-weeds are col-
lected either as objects of scientific interest, or for the
manufacture of pictures for albums or screens. Those
who collect sea-weeds for the latter purposes, in general
care little to know their history; but perhaps when
some of its facts are known, they may be regarded
as not without interest. I have, therefore, mentioned

78

SEA-WEED PICTURES.

some of the principles on wHcli the classification of
these plants is based, and described some of the com-
moner species of our shores. For a more detailed his-
tory of the family, I must refer my readers to books
more expressly written on the subject.*

* See the Author's " Phycologia Britannica," containing coloured
plates and detailed descriptions of all the British Sea-weeds : also, his
" Manual of the British Marine Alg£e," 2nd edit., with 27 plates of
genera {in preparation).

AOTINrE, OB SEA-ANEMONES.

CHAPTER IV.

THE ROCKY SEA-SHORE : MARINE ANIMALS.

In the vegetation of the sea, nature has provided both
shelter and food for an infinitude of animals. Were we
to speak of the uses of sea-weeds, and confine ourselves
to their adaptation to the wants of man, we should
much misinterpret the ofiice which this portion of the
vegetable world discharges in the general economy.
However great their uses to man, these are absolutely
insignificant in comparison to those benefits for which
the lower tribes of animated nature are indebted to the
sea-weeds. Troop after troop of animals, one more
highly organized than another, either derives its nour-
ishment from the sea-weed itself, or uses the subma-
rine forest as a hunting-ground, where it fulfils the

80 VARIETT OF ANIMALS.

appointed course of its busy life. Adhering to tlie roots
of sea-weeds we find the scarcely organized, but ob-
viously animated Sponge, whose place in the scale of
creation seems so nearly balanced between the animal
and the vegetable that naturalists have debated to
which of the kingdoms it properly belongs. To the
stems and leaves adhere multitudes of incrusting ani-
mals, some of which, till we examine them somewhat
closely, and watch their animal motions and propen-
sities with some care, seem to consist merely of masses
of jelly ; while others display, in their outward forms,
the branching appearance of mosses, every branch
clothed with scales, and crowned, when the animal is
in vigour, with starry flowers. The rocks from which
the sea-weeds spring aiford a resting-place to stationary
animals, which, in the shelter of these submerged groves,
watch the approach of prey; and through the branches,
in every direction, tribes as diiferent from each other in
form and structure as it is possible to conceive, sport
and multiply, and contend in ceaseless motion. No spot
of rock is absolutely desert, and no sea-weed grows
that does not support its multitude of living things.
The zoologist, therefore, on any rocky shore, may find
abundant occupation ; and he who does not limit him-
self to the mere collection and determination of new spe-
cies, but enters into the more noble departments of his
science — Anatomy and Physiology, — will in the most
barren places find animals, the investigation of whose
history will afford him constant sources of pleasure.

At the base of the animal scale, and apparently in
close connection with the vegetable kingdom, yet when

SPONGES. 81

closely examined, resembling no vegetable in organ-
ization, is found the family of Sponges, a considerable
number of which inhabits the shores of the British
Islands. Dr. Johnston * enumerates fifty-six species,
which he groups under nine genera, distinguished from
one another by characters derived from differences in
the structure and mineral composition of the skeleton.
The outward forms of Sponges are exceedingly sport-
ive, and even the same species, at different periods
of its life, or under the influence of different circum-
stances, often exhibits an outward aspect of very op-
posite character. Some are, indeed, tolerably constant
in form, especially the branching species ; but the ma-
jority are shapeless, or assume a form depending in
great measure on the objects in connection with them.
It thus becomes necessary, in studying the Sponges, to
acquaint ourselves intimately with the exact structure
of the skeleton. The spongy body is of the simplest
nature ; it consists of a horny or sometimes stony net-
work, composed of innumerable interlacing fibres, con-
nected together and inosculating, till a porous mass, full
of holes and passages, is the result. This is the skele-
ton, and such is seen in the common Sponges in every-
day use. When the creature is alive, every portion of
the horny fibre is coated over with a semifluid slimy
matter, like a half-consistent jelly, seemingly inert and
unorganized, and yet the seat of whatever life the
Sponge contains. It is by this slime, which may be
pressed out with the finger, that the network is depo-

* " History of the British Sponges and Corallines, by G. Johnston,
M.D."

G

82

NOTJEISHMENT OF SPONGES.

sited, and from it tlie whole growth of the mass pro-
ceeds. The slimy substance is apparently void of sen-
sation, for it does not shrink when wounded ; and the
only motion resembling animal life which the mature
Sponge exhibits is in the imbibition and expulsion of
continuous currents of water. If any species of Sponge
be examined, the holes with which the substance is
everywhere pierced may be seen to be of two kinds, one
of larger size than the rest, few in number, and opening
into wide channels, or tunnels, which pierce the Sponge
through its centre ; the other minute, extremely nume-
rous, covering the whole surface, and communicating
with the innumerable branching passages which make
up the body of the skeleton. According to the obser-
vations of Dr. Grant, water is freely imbibed through
the smaller holes, and continuously expelled in jets
through the larger, as long as the animal retains life.
These currents may be seen if a small specimen of a
living Sponge be placed in a watch-glass or other shallow
vessel of salt-water, and examined through the micro-
scope ; and it appears to be through their agency that
the substance is nourished. Nourishing particles dis-
persed through the water are received into the universal
stomach, and what is not required is ejected through
the canals.

Such is the simple history of the Sponges. Their pro-
pagation is provided for in a curious manner. At cer-
tain seasons of the year, if a Sponge be cut open, innu-
merable minute bud-like points will be found attached
to the sides of the lining of the canals. These are the
gemmules or young eggs of the sponge. As they increase

EGO OF SPONGE,

PROPAGATION OF SPONGES. 83

in size they are gradually clothed with vibratile hairs
{cilia); and at length, being fully formed, fall off as oval
bodies ; not inert, like the eggs of more active animals?
or like their parents, but moving freely
by the perpetual vibration maintained by
their cilia. These cilia, by their united
action, create strong currents round the
little body, which drive it forward into
the stream that issues from the opening
of the Sponge, and thence into the open sea, where its
motion is continued till it has reached a place suitable
for its developement. When this is done it soon attaches
itself; its wanderings cease, and it commences the quiet
vegetative life of its parent. The instincts which guide
animals in the care of their young are among the most
interesting that the lower animals exhibit ; but here, at
the base of the scale, we find a passive parent whose
young are endowed with powers of motion denied to
its mature growth, and these obviously supply, by a
beautiful arrangement, the deficiencies of the mother.
When we look a little higher in the animal scale, we
shall find other instances of greater activity in the young
than in the mature animal ; and even among the lower
vegetable tribes, the spores are often endowed with pro-
per movements. The little seed-like bodies from which
the Algae spring, are, in many instances, clothed with
cilia, like the eggs of the Sponges, and enjoy, for a brief
period, a similarly active life. The animal egg of the
Sponge, and the vegetable egg of the Conferva are both
moved by the same agency, and each appears to select
the situation best adapted for its growth. The phases

84 POLYPES, OR ZOOPHYTES.

of animal and vegetable existence have approacted so
near, that it requires the exercise of nicer tests than
the eye to discriminate between them. We arrive at a
point where the dry definitions of science cease to speak
an intelligible language, and where the presence of the
Unseen Worker begins to be felt.

In the history of the Sponges we find beings occupy-
ing nearly a middle rank between plants and animals,
though necessarily considered as belonging to the latter.
To such the term Zoophytes, or animal 2)i(ints, might
properly be given. This name is, however, commonly
restricted by Naturalists to another group, clearly ani-
mal in their nature, but which exhibit a skeleton often
branched like a plant, and bearing bodies resembling
seed-vessels and flowers. I have incidentally alluded to
these in a former chapter, and shall now enter into their
history a little further. The rocky sea-shore will supply
numerous species of this group of animals, from the
fleshy Sea Anemone, the largest and most highly-organ-
ized of our native species, to the minute scaly Lepralia,
which forms shagreened patches on the surface of rocks,
shells, and sea-weeds. All the true Corals, including
the precious coral of commerce and the Mushroom-Corals
which ornament the cabinets of the curious, together
with the horny, moss-like Sertularioe of our own shores,
are skeletons of the Zoophytes. The animals which
inhabit them are termed Polypes, and are either single
and solitary, as in the case of the Sea Anemone, or form
a compound body, several individuals being connected
together by a fleshy column, common to them all,
through which a more or less perfect circulation is

ORGANIZATION OF POLYPES. 85

maintained, and unity given to the compound body.
In so large a class we must expect to find great dif-
ferences in organization ; some are much simpler in
structure than others ; some are free to move about
from place to place ; others — and the greater number —
are fixed, as by a root, to the surface of some object:
but all the animals of the group have soft and inar-
ticulate, bag-shaped bodies, furnished at the upper ex-
tremity with a mouth, or opening, leading to the
stomach. The mouth is generally surrounded by one
or more circles of fleshy arms, or tentacida, which ex-
pand, like the rays of a star, and in many cases are
contractile, or capable, at the will of the animal, of
being drawn in from their greatest extension, and trans-
formed into mere fleshy, bud-like points. Tentacula,
which, when fully expanded, are (in the Hydra) several
inches in length, by a voluntary effort, and with great
rapidity contract so as nearly to disappear altogether.
In many kinds the tentacula, however, are non-contrac-
tile, and are either constantly expanded in the water, or
merely drawn within the walls of the cell in which the
animal lives, without any diminution of their volume.
The Polypes possess no obvious nervous system. Their
respiration is supposed to be conducted by cilia, which
clothe the surface of the tentacula, and maintain a con-
stantly changing current of water on the delicate surface
of those organs.

While there is a great common resemblance between
the skeletons, or polypidoms, of all the compound Zoo-
phytes, the animals by whose organs they are secreted
are so difi'erent, that zoologists arrange them in two

86 THEIR DIFFERENT CLASSES.

classes, — the Anthozoa, which have a body capable of
contraction in every part, and perfectly symmetrical,
with but a single aperture for the entrance of food ; and
the Polyzoa (or Bryozoa), whose bodies are unsymmetri-
cal, and incapable of contraction, while they are fur-
nished with a separate mouth and vent. The first are
obviously akin to radiate animals, while the latter show
a close resemblance in structure to the simpler members
of the Mollusca. The Polyzoa, though of much smaller
size than many of the Anthozoa, are much more perfectly
organized, and of a higher type in animal existence. In
the compound Anthozoa the individuality of the Polypes
is not clearly maintained, but each is, as it were, a bud
issuing from a common fleshy trunk, of similar sub-
stance; while, in the Polyzoa eYerj individual is distinct
within its own precincts, though connected, like the
Siamese twins, by a common band. Dr. Johnston aptly
compares the former to " a chain of which all the links
are welded;" the latter, "to a necklace, where the beads
are strung together by a common thread." The Antho-
zoa are divided by Dr. Johnston into three orders, easily
recognizable by the nature of their skeleton ; the 1st,
Hydroida, having Polypes enclosed in horny, tubular,
plant-like sheaths, forming an external covering to their
trunk; the 2nd, Asteroida, a calcareous or horny axis,
or internal skeleton, surrounded by the fleshy parts of
the compound body ; and the 3rd, Helianthoida, having
a calcareous or coriaceous skeleton composed of plates, ra-
diating, like the gills of a mushroom, towards a common
centre. The British Asteroida being all natives of the
deeper parts of the sea, will more properly be noticed in

CORYNE PUSILLA.

87

the next chapter ; I shall, therefore, here confine my-
self to a few common examples of the Hydroida and
Helianthoida.

The old genera, Tuhidaria and Sertularia of Lin-
nsBus, now divided into many genera, furnish us with
the best-known examples.
We may take as an example
of the first of these, a very
common little species, found
on stones and sea-weeds be-
tween tide-marks, especially
in clear rock-pools. I allude
to the Coryne inisdla of
our present arrangement, to
which name Dr. Johnston re-
duces five supposed species of
authors. This little creature
certainly varies much in size
and degree of ramification ;
but the differences are scarcely sufficient to separate per-
manent varieties. It off'ers us an instance of a very
reduced skeleton, the tube being a thin, horny mem-
brane, wrinkled cross-wise at very close intervals, and
continued, in the shape of skin, over the terminal heads
of the Polypes. The animal originates in creeping
fibres. These throw up erect stems, from which are
irregularly given off branches, each crowned with an
oblong fleshy head, of a glassy lustre and red colour,
armed with numerous short and thick tentacula, standing
out like blunt spikes on every side, and but imperfectly
retractile. The mouth is terminal. Though we call

OO SERTULARI^.

the club-shaped knob at the end of the branches a head,
it in fact contains the whole proper body of the Polype,
the substance which fills the tube being merely a me-
dulla common to all. The flexibility of the branches,
and their perfect union with the base of the head, en-
able the animal to move the latter part in every direc-
tion. Besides this, it can shorten or leng then the head
at pleasure, protruding the mouth, and bending it round
to catch any object of prey. Its motions, which are
slow, and not ungraceful in their deliberation, may
readily be watched in a small vessel of sea-water, and
specimens may be found on almost any rocky shore.

Of the restricted genus Sertularia seventeen British
species are known, many of which are only found in deep
water. I shall take as an example *S'. filicula, a common
but elegant species, found on sea-weeds near low-water-
mark, especially at the root of the larger Oar-weed, and
often thrown up along the shore. The Sertularice are
of a horny colour and texture, branched like plants,
sometimes forked, but very generally feathered or j)in-
nate. Their branches are toothed ; and, when mag-
nified, are found to consist of a single tube, jointed at
intervals, and bearing along its sides prominent cells,
alternate, or in opposite pairs, one placed at each side of
the branch. In some species they are close together,
and very distant in others. In these cells, which are
hollow, and open at the end, the Polypes reside. When
expanded, they show a mouth surrounded by several
radiating tentacula ; but they can withdraw themselves
at pleasure within the narrow walls of their cell. Besides
the cells in which the Polypes reside, most Sertularioe,

SERTULARI^.

89

produce bag-like bodies, called vesicles, in whicb their
ova are contained. These are very rarely found on
S. filicula, but may be seen
abundantly, especially in
early spring, on another com-
mon species (*S'. operculata),
which frequently forms a
rigid beard to the stems of
the great Oar- weed. The form
of the vesicles varies much
in different kinds, and often
affords an excellent character
to distinguish one closely-
allied species from another.
In Plumularia cristata, a
beautiful feathery species,

common on sea-weeds near low-water-mark, especially
on Halidrys siliquosa, the vesicle is exceedingly curious,
seemingly formed by the union and metamorphosis of
several cells. It consists of an oblong pouch, with a
tubular rib along its dorsal margin, from which issue
numerous transverse, crested ribs, which will be better
understood by the annexed figure than by a more detail-
ed description. The genus Plumularia is readily known
from Sertularia by having its cells unilateral, or all
placed along one side only of the branches. Speaking of
riumularia cristata, Dr. Johnston introduces some re-
flections which apply equally to most of the Zoophytes
of this division, and which I shall therefore quote.
Each plume has been calculated to contain about five
hundred Polypes, and a single specimen of ordinary size

90

PLUMULARIA CRISTATA.

will number from five to six thousand. " Now," says
Dr. Johnston, " many such specimens, all united, too, by

a common fibre, and all
the oiFshoots of one com-
mon parent, are often lo-
cated on one sea-weed, the
site, then, of a population
which nor London nor
Pekin can rival. But PI.
cristata is a small species ;
and there are specimens of
PI. falcata, or Sertularia
argentea, of which the fa-
mily may consist of eighty
to one hundred thousand
^='''^°'^^- individuals. It is such

calculations, always underrated, that illustrate the ' mag-
nalities of Nature,' and take us by surprise, leaving
us in wonderment at what may be the great object of
this her exuberant production of these ' insect millions
peopling every wave.' " * But,

So He ordained, whose way is in the sea,
His path amidst great waters, and His steps
Unknown ; — whose judgments are a mighty deep,
Where plummet of Archangel's intellect
Could never yet find soundings ; but from age
To age let down, drawn up, then thrown again
With lengthened line and added weight, still fails ;
And still the cry in Heaven is, ' 0 the depth ! '

Montgomery.

PI.UMtlLAKIA CRISTATA, AlTD MAGNIFIED

* Johnston's Brit. Zoop. p. 93.

SEA ANEMONES. 91

Such, are the characters of some of our commoner
compound Zoophytes, We shall next examine a few
belonging to the order Helianthoida, which are of a very
different description, being solitary or simple Polypes.
The commonest and best known of these are the Sea
Anemones or Actinice, several kinds of whicb are to be
found on every shore. When the Sea Anemone is left
dry by the retiring tide, it withdraws its tentacles from
view by retracting them within the mouth, and the
whole body shrinks into a conical lump of wrinkled
flesh. The same happens if the creature be touched
with a finger while expanded. Were we to form our
idea of its beauty by inspecting it in this state, we
should have little cause to stop and admire it. But,
placed in water, and allowed to recover itself, few marine
animals are more beautiful than the various kinds of
these Actinice. They may aptly be compared to the
flowers of Mesembryanthema, with their myriads of
lustrous petals forming a starry whole. Here the ten-
tacula, which surround the disc in many rows, represent
the petals of the flower, or may be likened to the " rays
of glory " in the passion-flower ; and, in the brilliancy
of their colours, and the lustre of their substance,
they much exceed their vegetable analogues. It is im-
possible, in an uncoloured woodcut, to do justice to
creatures displaying sometimes the most delicate, some-
times the richest tints, but the vignette at the head of
this chapter may serve to give some general notion
of their contour to persons who have never seen them.
Those who visit the rocky sea-shore will soon recognise
in the deep tide-pools near low-water-mark numerous

92 COEAL BANKS.

beautiful kinds, ornamented with all the colours of
the rainbow.

The internal structure of the Sea Anemone is very-
curious. The Polypes of the Hydroida are exceedingly
simple in structure, their flesh being composed of a
homogeneous mass of cells, heaped together, and formed
into a bag-like body. In these Helianthoida the struc-
ture is much more compound : there is an outer leathery
skin, separated from the inner coat or wall of the sto-
mach by a hollow space, in which are placed numer-
ous vertical partitions or laminae, radiating towards the
centre like the gills of a mushroom. These plates have
their origin on the inner surface of the leathery coat,
to which they act as a support ; some of them project so
far as to touch the walls of the stomach, and others are
narrower and shorter than the rest, exactly as we find the
gills of a mushroom. A similar structure is found re-
presented in stone, in the well-known Mushroom Coral or
Madrepore of our cabinets, which is indeed the skeleton
of an animal closely allied to the Sea Anemone. In the
Sea Anemone, the laminae continue fleshy during the life
of the animal ; in the Madrepore they secrete a coating
of carbonate of lime, which thickens by degrees, and at
length forms a stony cast of the animal. The lower parts
gradually die away, as the stony matter increases, while
the Polype-body, continuing to live, is pushed upwards,
and thus the Corals of this family are produced. In the
seas of tropical and subtropical countries, the species of
Calcareous Corals of the Helianthoid order are exceed-
ingly numerous, and their ofiice in the natural economy
most wonderful. Ceaselessly, from the earliest ages of

MODERN BRITISH CORALS.

93

the world, have they gone on, withdrawing lime from
the waters of the sea, and fixing it in their tissues, till
not mountains or islands merely, but whole continents
have been formed by their debris. In the limestones of
many districts vast beds of fossil Madrepores are found.
The well-known ornaments manufactured at Torquay,
exhibit beautiful sections of antediluvian animals of this
group. The work is still in progress. Fresh beds of
such limestones, of unknown extent, are gradually form-
ing throughout the Pacific Ocean, and along the shores
of the great southern continent of New Holland. In our
British seas, very few examples of this section of Zoo-
phytes remain, of the multitudes which once inhabited
our shores ; but in the modern sea one does exist, to
which a considerable geological interest is attached,
from its being also undoubtedly found in the crag for-
mation. This Coral, Turhiiiolia Milletiana, has been
dredged in a living state off
the coast of Cornwall, and
off the west of Ireland ; but
it is very rarely found. A
more common species, Gary-
ophyllea S7nithii, is found on
various parts of the coast.
It bears a miniature resem-
blance to the exotic Madre-
pores, having the same mushroom folds ; while its
animal, when expanded, closely resembles a common
Sea Anemone.

Twenty different kinds of Actiniae, or Sea Anemones,
are known to British Naturalists, but probably several

DAKYOPHTLLEA SMITHII

94

LUCERNARI^.

others remain unnoticed. Many have as yet been seen
in only one locality ; the history of others is very im-
perfectly known ; and accurate drawings of several kinds
are wanting : there is, therefore, still open a most inte-
resting field to the observer of these beautiful creatures.
Among their allies is a particularly elegant species,
often found adhering to the smaller sea-weeds in rock-
pools. With the general aspect of an Actinia, it differs
in having a bell-shaped body, raised on a narrow stalk,

and in having its tentacula
collected in tufts at regular
distances round the margin.
These differences are suffi-
cient to mark a generic
group, which is called Lu-
cernaria, and of which three
species have been found on
the British coast. The most
common is distinguished by
having a marginal tubercle
in the centre of the space
between each tuft of tenta-
cles. Its body is clear as crystal, and coloured variously
in different specimens, being sometimes green, some-
times red, and sporting into various other tints. When
it desires to shift its quarters, it can detach itself at
will from the object to which it adheres, and swim, with
considerable quickness, to a new position, by alternately
expanding and contracting its body.

All the Polypes we have yet spoken of, belong to the
class Anthozoa ; but we must remember that there is

LUOEBNAKIA AOBlcnLA,

BRTOZOA, OR SEA MOSSES. 95

another class of tliese creatures, with an organization
quite different, though with an outward similarity in
the polypidom, namely, the Polyzoa, or, as they are as
commonly called, the Bryozoa, or Sea Mosses. In the
Anthozoa, the skeleton, whether horny or stony, has little
or no organic connection with the fleshy parts, to which
it acts as an internal support, or an external defence ;
for though secreted by the organs of the Zoophytes,
when it is once formed, it has no further capability of
developement, and no circulation is maintained through
its substance. But in the Polyzoa the polypidom con-
tinues to be, at all times, a living portion of the animal
which inhabits it. It is, in fact, a sort of hardened
skin, closely adhering to the Polype, and continuous
with its softer parts. None of the animals of this group
occur in a naked or separate form. They are all asso-
ciated in compound bodies, and lodged in cells, within
which, when at rest, the Polype lies concealed, doubled
up upon itself. They do not possess the remarkable
contractile powers of the Anthozoa, but when they re-
treat within their cells, they merely fold themselves
closely together. When expanded, the fore-part of the
body is protruded, exhibiting a mouth surrounded by a
circle of slender tentacula. The species of this class
are very numerous, but mostly of smaller size and less
beauty than those of the Anthozoa. A considerable
number are merely scaly crusts, adhering to the surface
of rocks and Algae, These, when carefully examined,
exhibit the beauty and regularity of structure insepa-
rable from the works of creation, but are commonly
passed over by the collectors of pretty things, as merely

9Q VARIETY OF LEPUALIiE.

■white, scaly crusts, altogether devoid of interest. What
the parasitic fungi are to larger vegetables, these little
animals are to their more showy neighbours. But even
in the humblest kinds, it is astonishing what a variety
of beautiful structures are met with. The common
observer may pass over the species of Lejyralice Avithout
discrimination, as being merely rude scurfs, deforming
the sea-weeds or shells over which they spread ; but, if

VARIOI3S SPECIES OF LEFRAXT^, MAGNIFIEt),

he carefully examine them, nearly forty kinds, distin-
guished by very curious and elegant varieties of form,
will reward his labour. The polypidom in this genus
consists of a single layer of cells, adhering by their
under surface to rocks, shells, or sea-weeds, and dis-
posed in regular order in a more or less perfectly cir-
cular manner, formed row beyond row, in concentric
layers. Some of the more curious forms of the cells are
represented magnified in our figure.

Several of the Folyzoa, especially those of the family
called Escharidoe, have appendages to their cells of a
very singular nature, the use of which has not yet been
determined. These odd-looking organs are attached to
the outer side of the cell, and resemble in form the head
of a bird furnished with a bill which can open and

APPENDAGE OF CELLULARTA

bird's-head appendages. 97

shut like a pair of pincers. Each head is fixed on
a flexible stalk, and while the creature lives, main-
tains a constant and regular motion up and down,
opening and shutting the bill at
intervals. All specimens of the
same species do not produce them,
nor are they found on all the cells
of a single specimen ; and they
exist indiscriminately on certain
species of different genera, while
often species, otherwise closely al-
lied, are not furnished with them.

From this group of the class Zoophytes we pass, by
a very easy transition, to the more simple members of
the MoLLtrscA, those forming the subdivision tunicata.
They are so called, because their soft parts are enclosed,
not in a shell, like the majority of the class, but in a
tough, leathery coat or tunic. The commonest example
of a tunicated Mollusc is found in the various kinds of
Ascidice, or Sea Squirts, some of which are found attached
to sea-weeds and stones, in the littoral zone ; others are
frequently thrown up from deeper water on the beach,
and may be dredged in abundance in almost any loca-
lity. Some are of a large size, several inches in length.
Their outer form is that of a bag, with a smooth or va-
riously-roughened semi-transparent skin, furnished with
two small openings, through which, on the slightest
pressure, a jet of water is sent to a considerable distance.
These creatures lead a very inactive life. Attached by
their base to plants, they trust for nourishment to
whatever small fry are brought to their mouths by

H

do ASCIBI^, OK SEA SQUIETS.

currents in the water. They have not the elegance of
form of the Sea Anemones, but many are painted with
the most gaudy colours. Their internal structure is very
simple, and connects them closely with the division of
Mollusca which form bivalve shells, — the tunic in the
Ascidice being strictly analogous to the shell of the
Conchifer. Their metamorphoses have been watched
by several distinguished Naturalists, and oiFer highly
curious points in their history. In the young or tad-
pole state, they are extremely active, swimming about
by rapid motions of their tail, till the young creature
finds a spot where he can take root. Then the tail dis-
appears, and grasping fibres, or roots, spring from the
body, which gradually assumes the form, and adopts the
quiet life of the parent from which it sprung. It is
thus, by giving to the young animal powers which she
denies to the fully grown, that Nature, in these and
many other of the stationary lower animals, provides
for the proper dispersion of the species. Among more
perfect animals, it is the old take care of the young,
and provide for them : here we find the young possess
instincts which they lose at an advanced period of their
life.

The Ascidice, which, because they are common and of
large size, I have instanced as examples of the tunicated
Mollusca, are simple animals, each creature living by
itself ; but I should give an imperfect idea of the class
if I did not allude to the compound Ascidians, animals
of similar structure, which yet live associated, or con-
nected together into a compound body, such as we have
already seen among the Zoophytes. These are very

COMPOUND ASCIDIiE.

99

numerous on our shores ; but the most varied forms
are taken only hy the dredge. Still, on the stems of Sea-
weeds, within tide-marks, especially on the various kinds
of Cystoseira, and on the Lcmiinarm, numerous kinds,
some of them extremely beautiful, may be found. The
stems of the Glive-coloured Sea-weeds are often literally
concealed, by clasping masses of firm jelly, whose sur-
face is marked with radiating stars, blue, crimson, or
orange, — or various in colour, resembling a tesselated
pavement, or the polished section of a Torquay madre-
pore-stone. These belong to the
animals in question, and to the
tribe Botryllidce. The gelatinous
crust is a matrix common to the
whole community; while each star
that glitters on its surface, con-
sists of numerous separate indi-
viduals, similar in most points of
their structure to the bag-like Ascidice. It is im-
possible, without colour, to do justice to such delicate
creatures by a figure, and the wood-cut in the margin
is merely intended to guide the eye. A brief outline
of what is known of the British species of this highly
curious family, is given in the first chapters of Forbes'
and Hanley's " British Mollusca," to which I must
refer for further information : but a more complete
history, accompanied by coloured figures, is required
before the study of these curious creatures can be
rendered popular.

These Ascidians are among the humblest members of
the great class of Mollusca. This class includes the

100 PROGRESSIVE STRUCTURE

whole group of animals wliicli produce what are proper-
ly called shells, the favourite study of the conchologist ;
also a multitude which are shell-less at all periods of
their life; and others, whose shells are reduced to mem-
branous plates concealed under the fleshy folds of their
bodies. Commencing with the shapeless bag of the As-
cidice ; proceeding thence, through the bivalve shells
into Sea Slugs ; and so, through the various tribes of
univalve shells, — we pass under review a great variety of
animals, rising in complication of structure one above
another, until we arrive at the Nautilus and the Cuttle-
fish, which close the great group, by a type of structure
in which the peculiar organization of the vertebrate is
dimly sketched. The lowest Mollusca are scarcely more
organized than the Zoophytes : the highest closely border
on the most perfect animals. The study of this class
therefore is, in all respects, highly important. To the
mere student of comparative anatomy it offers a rich
field of research ; for here, within circumscribed bounds,
he can trace the gradual developement of organs from
the first idea, as it were, to their full perfection. To the
collector of beautiful objects, the countless varieties of
shells, so easily preserved and so varied in contour and
colour, afford continual sources of interest; and their
proper classification, a pleasant problem for the exercise
of ingenuity : — although it must be admitted that the
proper classification of shells cannot be arrived at, if
the nature of the animal which forms them be not care-
fully studied. A striking proof of this is shown in the
genus Patella, of the older authors. If we merely con-
sider the form of the shell, this group appears to be

IN THE MOLLUSCA, 101

strictly natural. But when we examine the creatures
of which these shells are the covering, we find them so
differently organized that it is impossible to regard
them as of the same genus. It would therefore be just
as natural, classing quadrupeds by their skins, to place
the leopard and the camelopard in the same genus
because they have similar coats, as it would be to com-
bine, under one group, the various species of the Lin-
nsean genus Patella. Conchology, within a few years,
has made more advances in a philosophical direction
than most of the other natural sciences. Up to a recent
period, it was the lowest of all scientific pursuits, and
appeared the most useless. Now, however, that the
subject begins to be studied on better principles, a
new light has burst upon it, and a thousand interest-
ing facts in the lives of the shell-coated animals, are
revealed.

Nor is the interest which attaches to Conchology
merely derived from our increased knowledge of the
habits and instincts of an extensive class of animals.
Its bearings on Geology place it among the most import-
ant of the minor divisions of Zoology. Shelly-coated
Mollusca have existed in the waters of the sea and of
rivers from a very early period of the world's history, and
have left in most stratified rocks and gravels abundance
of their shells, preserved in a more perfect manner than
the remains of most other animals. Now, as the species
in the early rocks differ from those found in later form-
ations, quite as much as the latter from the Mollusca of
our modern seas, the gradual change in the character
of the imbedded shells marks a certain interval of time

102 IMPORTANCE OF CONCHOLOGY.

in the world's history. To understand and apply the
evidence derivable from this source, requires a most
careful study, not only of the different forms of fossil-
shells, but of the forms and habits of existing species.
In fact, it is impossible to understand the character of
these fossils without an intimate knowledge of Concho-
logy. To distinguish species, — to insist on minute
characters, — to collect minute shells, — appear often to
the unthinking utilitarian but trifling hobbies of mere
triflers. Yet on these apparent trifles depend some of
the most important problems of Geology ; and if the con-
chologist blunder in reading the " Medal of Creation,"*
all the deductions of the geologist will be vitiated. To
trace the history of a species of shell, from its first ap-
pearance in an early bed, to its final extinction in a
later formation, requires an intimate knowledge, not
merely of the species in question, but of the changes
which, under modified circumstances, other species un-
dergo, before their vitality yields to an altered condi-
tion. It is a highly curious fact, that there is a term to
the life of a species, as well as to that of an individual.
What that term is we know not; but the remains of
extinct species and genera prove the fact. But before
the final extinction of a species, — except the change
of circumstances be so sudden as to cause the instan-
taneous death of every individual of the kind, — the fry
developed under altered circumstances of habitat will
vary from the characters of their parents, and present the
peculiarities of the species in a weakened degree ; their

* I need scarcely remind tlie reader that there is such a book as
Dr. Mantell's " Medals of Creation."

DECLINE OF SPECIES. 103

descendants, if they have any, will be of still feebler
character; and, should the modifying cause continue
to increase, the species will then probably cease to exist.
The sudden and complete influx of fresh water to a
basin previously covered by the sea would instantane-
ously kill all its testaceous animals. But were the
change gradual, these same animals and their descend-
ants would exist in water considerably less salt ; though
they would probably cease to propagate before the lake
had become wholly fresh. A curious instance of gra-
dual change in a fossil marine species from the influx of
fresh water, was observed by Professor E. Forbes* in the
island of Cos. In this case the change of circumstance
was clearly marked, through the several beds in which
the shell occurred, till the
species altogether ceased.
These forms or varieties,
depending on the influx
of fresh water are shown
in the annexed figure.
I have noticed similar
change in the character
of the common Littorina rudis of our own coasts, whose
shell, when the animal occupies its proper habitat, be-
tween tide-marks, is thick and strong, with shallow
grooves between the spires. But this species sometimes
climbs up rocks of considerable height, and remains
upon them, trusting to the washing of the spray for its
nourishment. The specimens I allude to were found
among the crevices of a sea-cliff on the West of Ireland,

* " Travels in Lycia," 2 vols. 8vo., 1847.

SHELIj from T-YCIa, e. p.

104

BURROWING SHELLS.

at a height of nearly two hundred feet above the sea, a
situation which the tide never washes over, but where
the giant waves of the Atlantic throw up pretty con-
stantly a feathery spray. This spray collects in pools
on the summit of the crag, where it is largely diluted
with rain-water ; and here, in this unpromising locality,
multitudes of Litiorina nicZi's have taken up their abode.
The specimens are quite as large as the usual state
of the species, but the substance of the shell is nearly
as thin as that of a Limneus, especially about the aper-
ture, and the grooves between the spires are much
deeper than usual. Still, though changed, the species
is easily recognized; — nor is there the slightest dis-
position to pass into L. petrcea.

I have already, in the chapter on Sands, spoken of
some of the general habits and structure of the bivalve
Mollusca, the great majority of which live in sandy or
muddy places. Some, however, like the Edomiles, take
up their abode in the rock, and hollow out for them-
selves dwellings in it. Such is the JPholas, of which we
have several British species, which are often found
imbedded in limestone or sandstone rock, though oc-
casionally they con-
tent themselves with
houses of clay. How
so frail a shell as Fho-
las Candida, which is
as thin as paper, and
as brittle as glass, is
able to work its way through hard stone, has long been
a puzzle to Naturalists; some of whom assert that it

PHOLAS CANDIDA.

MUSSELS. 105

works by means of an acid solvent ; others that it bores
like an auger, by revolving, and rasps away the surface
of the rock with the rough points on its surface. The
question remains a knotty one, and my space forbids me
to discuss it here. The Mussels are another group oi
bivalve shells, which inhabit rocky ground, but are in-
capable of burrowing into the rock. Nature has not,
however, left them unprovided with means for securing
their position. She has destined them to a sedentary
life on the naked surface of rocks, exposed to the great-
est violence of the waves. The common Mytilus rugosus,
or Rock Mussel, may be seen covering, by thousands, the
surface of rocks near low-water-mark, always choosing
the most open situations. But here it is as firmly
anchored as a ship in harbour. Its foot, which is so
small as to be useless for purposes of progression, is
employed in weaving silken threads of great strength,
which it affixes to the rock and to its neighbour mus-
sel ; and thus mutually combined, and each grasping
the rock, the community of mussels live together in
security.

But the great majority of the Mollusca which inhabit
rocky places belong to a very extensive group, called
Gasteropoda, the whole of the under side of whose body
consists of a strongly muscular, flattened foot, on which
they glide along with a slow but regular motion, leaving
generally a slimy track behind them. It is needless
to say that the Slug and the Snail are examples of a
naked and a shell-covered Mollusc of this kind. But
not merely these land Molluscs, but all the univalve
marine and fresh-water shells, and all the naked Sea

106

GASTEROPODOUS MOLLTJSCA.

SlugSj properly so called, belong to this class of Gastero-
poda. There is here an obvious advance in organization
above the bivalves, even in the external characters of the
animal. The body is more symmetrical ; there is a greater
distinction of parts, — an obvious head, an evident tail ;
and, save that the body is without legs, we have often
a considerable outward resemblance to some vertebrate
animal, in the form of the body and in the expression
of the countenance. For here is a well-formed face, sur-
mounted by two or four tentacula, commonly called
horns, which either, as in the Snail, carry each an eye
at its summit, or, as is the case in most of the marine
kinds, have an eye on a prominence at the base. When
we look at the internal structure of these animals, the

advance in organiza-
tion is still more
clearly shown. The
organs of digestion
and of circulation are
formed on a very per-
fect type, and the
nervous system is not
only amply develop-
ed, but there is a
well-defined nervous
centre, or brain. The
mouth, in many spe-
cies, is furnished with
sharp and strong
teeth; in others, the process of digestion is facilitated
by strong, bony gizzards, which bruise the food in its

LIMPET 3 TONGUE,

limpet's tongue. 107

passage into the stomacli; and in others the tongue is
armed with spinous processes, obviously intended to
assist in the preparation of the food. The tongue of
the Common Limpet, shown in the preceding figure, is
a curious piece of mechanism. It is from two to three
inches long, and half a line in diameter, flat, between
horny and membranous, with a spoonlike extremity,
and when at rest, retracted into the stomach. Its
whole extent is armed with transverse rows of sharp,
hooked teeth, four in each row ; and between the
rows, are placed two trifid, rather obliquely-set teeth,
one at each side of the strap. Our figure shows the
general form of the whole tongue, and a small portion
magnified.

So large a class as the Gciidero'poda necessarily in-
cludes animals of very different aspect and variously
modified structure, which it becomes necessary to clas-
sify on some principle derived from their organization.
The classification usually adopted is founded on differ-
ences in the shape and position of the gills, or breath-
ing apparatus. The Common Land Snail, as w^ell as
the Fresh-water Snails, breathe air, which is received
into a cavity lined with a delicate network, analo-
gous to the lungs of air-breathing animals; and the
fresh-water kinds are obliged to rise to the surface every
time they require to take in fresh air. These constitute
the first group, or Pulmoni hranchiata. Such a mode
of aerating the blood would obviously be unsuited to
marine Gasteropoda; consequently, all the remaining
orders are furnished with gills, variously placed. There
are eight of these orders; and I shall mention five, as

108

CLASSIFICATION OF

containing animals commonly met Avith, The Niidi-
hranchiata,'^ or Slugs -with naked gills, have the gills
placed on the outside of the body, expanding freely in
the water, like the ten taenia of the Sea Anemone. Few
marine animals offer more beautiful forms, gaily orna-
mented with colours, and
fringed withtentacula; while
their breathing apparatus
often displays the most
elaborately-branched leaves,
placed like the petals of a
flower. The Tectihranchiata,
or Slugs with covered gills,
are animals of a something
similar aspect, apparently
soft Slugs, but often fur-
nished with an internal
shell. In these the gills are
placed on one side of the
body, under the deep folds
of the mantle. Among sea-
weeds, near low-water-mark,
a deep purple Mollusc of
this group may be found, called A2ylysia. It is one or
two inches long, with a snail-like body, a prominent
head, furnished with four ear-shaped tentacula, two
near the tip of the snout, and on the forehead two more,
at the base of which are seen a pair of small, peering

* A monograph of the British species of this group, illustrated by
exquisitely beautiful plates, is in course of publication (through the
Ray Society) by Messrs. Alder and Hancock.

ANCULA CRIHTATA.

GASTEROPODOUS MOLLUSCA.

109

eyes. The back of the creature opens with two wide
lobes, which can be expanded or closed over the opening
at the animal's will. When open, they expose to view,
on the right side, the finely fringed and lobed branchias,
seated in a deep hollow beneath a fold of the mantle.

Next stand the Pectinibranckiata, the most numerous
order of Gasteropods, comprising all the spiral univalve
shells. In these the gills are pectinated, or shaped
like the teeth of a comb, and placed in a large hollow
chamber in the animal, communicating with the sur-
face by a wide slit, through which the water finds
free access to the gills. This type is obviously ana-
logous to the Pulmoniferous order, except that in
these the medium is water, and not air. Closely allied
to this order are the Scutihranckiata, which have pec-
tinated gills, similarly placed in a special chamber; but
in these the shell is wide, and cup- or shield-shaped, in-
stead of being spiral. Such
is the Common Limpet {Pa-
tella), which may be taken as
the type of the order. And,
lastly, 1 shall mention the
Cyclohranchiata, in which
the gills form a fringe round
the margin of the body, be-
tween the edge of the mantle
and the foot. To this belongs the Chiton, the only mul-
tivalve shell among the Gasteropoda. There are two or
three common species, which may be found adhering
to stones near low- water-mark. They are Slugs, coated
with eight transverse, shelly plates, resembling the plates

CHITON
FASCICtJLAP.IS.

110 HABITS OF GASTEROPODA :

of ancient armour, which, connected with a tough mar-
ginal band, form a complete shield to the animal.

These several orders of Gasteropoda are as various in
their habits as in their organization. A large number
feed on marine plants, but many are carnivorous, prey-
ing on other Mollusca, as well as on any animal sub-
stance offered to them. Among spiral shells, those
with circular mouths to the shell, like the old genus
Turbo, are vegetable feeders ; while such as have an
aperture ending in a canal, like Buccinum and Murex,
are animal-feeders. Very important modifications of in-
ternal structure indicate this difference of food, and the
external organs, particularly about the mouth, exhibit a
corresponding variety of form. In those which feed on
vegetables the mouth is generally a slit, furnished with
more or less perfect lips, armed with a simple cutting
apparatus, which is often a powerful instrument, en-
abling the animal to eat its way through comparatively
hard substances. But the animal feeders are provided
with a much more complex organ, which serves the
double purpose of an arm to secure the prey, and a
channel to convey it to the stomach. The proboscis of
the Whelk, or Buccinum, is an organ of this character
of a highly curious structure ; and, armed with it, the
creature can pierce through the hardest shells in search
of food. This proboscis can either be protruded to a
considerable length, and used as an arm moveable in
every direction, or it may be wholly drawn in, contract-
ing on itself, like the horns of a snail, till it disappear
within the body of the animal. Its movements depend
on the action of a very complex system of muscles. It

THEIR ORGANIZATION. Ill

consists of two cylinders, one within the other; the outer
of which serves for the attachment of the motor muscles
and the general protection of the organ, while the inner,
opening near the extremity with a longitudinal mouth,
armed with two strong cartilaginous lips, encloses the
tongue and a great part of the oesophagus. The tongue
is armed with sharp spines, and, acting in concert with
the hard lips, which can be opened or shut, or strongly
pressed together, it forms a sort of rasp or auger, by
which very hard substances are rapidly perforated ; and
then the tongue being protruded, the hooked spines
with which it is armed are admirably fitted for the col-
lection of food. The mode in which the shells of Gas-
teropoda are formed is very similar to what takes place
among bivalve shells. These beautifully painted struc-
tures are secreted by the glandular margin of the
mantle, or soft skin, which clothes the upper part of the
body of the Mollusc; and their form depends on the
shape of the body they are destined to cover, while the
outline of the border is alike regulated by that of the
mantle. In the border of the mantle are placed the
glands through which colouring-matter is added to the
lime of which the shell consists, and here also the whole
of the outer coat of the shell is formed by constant an-
nual additions to the lip. The after-growth of the shell
in thickness, is provided for by secretions almost always
colourless, from the general surface of the mantle. These
are supplied in thin layers, one over the other, at stated
periods, so that the older a shell is, the thicker will be
the substance. In most of the shell-coated Gasteropods
the mantle is concealed by the shell, or its margin only

112 FORMATION OP SHELL.

may be seen just protruded round the aperture, as the
creature crawls along; but in the CyiyrcBa, or Cowrj,
and in such shells as have a similarly polished coat, the
mantle folds back over the surface of the shell, to which
it imparts the high polish and the beautiful markings
these shells display. The annexed
section of the shell of Nassa reticulata
is intended to show the nature of
its internal spires.

Notwithstanding the defences pro-
vided by Nature for the shelly Mol-
luscs, they have many enemies, from
whose attacks the largest and strongest
shells do not always afford protection.

NASSA RETICULATA. A j 1

Among these enemies are some ani-
mals which have no means of piercing the shell, but
must watch their opportunity when the owner is quiet-
ly feeding, or so far extended that he cannot retreat
before the fatal blow is given. No one can have picked
up many spiral shells on the shore without noticing that
several of them were tenanted, not by the proper owner
of the shell, but by a kind of Crab, which has taken up
his abode in "the hollow-wreathed chamber." These
Crabs belong to a peculiar genus, called Pagurus, or the
Hermit Crabs, which are obviously fitted by Nature for
such a life, and unsuited to any other ; and the Pagurus
would find himself quite as much inconvenienced by the
loss of his stolen coat as the natural owner himself.
We may, therefore, wonder that Nature should have left
him so unprovided as to subject him to the necessity of
feloniously appropriating the goods of another. But, it

HERMIT CRABS. 113

may well be replied, that he was specially destined to
keep the shelly Molluscs in check, as some enemies seem
provided to every animal, that the balance might be
preserved between the several species of the animal
kingdom. But, be this as it may, we find in the forma-
tion of the Pagurus his charter for acting as he does.
All the forepart of his body is coated with mail, like that
of other crabs, while his hind-parts are soft, and covered
with a membrane in which the mere rudiments of shelly
plates may be traced. The tail, however, is furnished
with a pair of hooks, by which it can lay hold of ob-
jects. The back part of his body, indeed, so obviously
resembles that of one of the Spiral-shelled Molluscs,
that it requires but a glance to see that the cast-off
clothes of one will equally suit the other. And in early
life the Paguri are probably contented with nestling in
the deserted shells which may be found on the shore,
and to which they readily attach themselves by means
of the hooks of their tail, so that they can move about
with as great ease as if there was a regular organic ad-
hesion. But, as they advance in size, they require larger
houses; the first-selected shells are therefore deserted,
and new ones chosen. Sometimes the Pagurus continues
to select deserted shells. But, judging from the fresh-
ness of the shell in which we find him, it is probable
that he more frequently attacks living specimens, seizing
the animal with his claws before it has time to retreat ;
and, having devoured its flesh, appropriates the shell.
Mr. Bell* states that such is probably the fact, though
he has not himself witnessed it.

* " History of British Crustacea," p. 173.

I

114 ROCK-POOLS.

It would extend this chapter too much to mention, or
even to glance at, the other groups of animals, examples
of which are to be found on the rocky sea-shore. Enough
has been said to show the richness of the subject. No
shore is so absolutely barren but it will provide some
interesting object for investigation among the lower
animals, and there will generally be found everywhere
examples of all the greater groups. And there are few
shores which produce nothing but common kinds ; the
most unfavourable-looking places often unexpectedly
yield something which is rarely found. The pursuit
of Marine Zoology is, therefore, always interesting, for
the attention is kept constantly alive. With the vary-
ing nature of the ground the population varies. And
nothing can well exceed the beauty of a clear rock-pool,
seen under strong sunlight, and through a calm surface,
tenanted by its varied animated tribes, all fulfilling the
duties allotted to their several kinds. The transparent
shrimp, now resting on its oars, midway in the water,
watching your motions with its peering eyes, and atten-
tive to the slightest disturbance, now darting through
the pool, and hiding himself among sea-weeds ; the
basking Sea Anemone displaying his starry flowers;
the Purple Rock Urchin* studding the bottom of the
pool with spiny globes ; and the quiet Molluscs leisurely
pursuing their way, feeding as they go : these, mingled

* This species, Ecliinus lividus, is peculiar to the west coast of
Ireland, where it is very common, living in society in pools between
tide-marks. Its habits are as curious as its aspect is beautiful. It
is chiefly remarkable for burrowing circular holes in limestone, claj--
slate, or even in trap-rocks.

ANIMAL LIFE IN THE SEA. 115

with the varied contour and colour of delicate sea-
plants, form a picture which has its prototype nowhere
but in fairj-land.

" The sounds and seas, each creek and bay,
With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals
Of fish that with their fins, and shining scales,
Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft
Bank the mid sea : part single, or with mate.
Graze the sea-weed their pasture, and through groves
Of coral stray ; or sporting with quick glance.
Show to the sun their vvaved coats dropped with gold ;
Or, in their pearly shells at ease, attend
Moist nutriment; or under rocks their food
In jointed armour watch : on smooth the seal
And bended dolphins play : part huge of bulk,
Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait,
Tempest the ocean : there leviathan,
Hugest of living creatures, on the deep.
Stretched like a promontory, sleeps or swims.
And seems a moving land ; and at his gills
Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea."

Milton.

N^^

NATURALISTS USING THE EREI)&E,

CHAPTER V.

DREDGING.

Among tlie amusements of the sea-shore there is,
perhaps, none so capable of yielding a varied pleasure
to a person whose taste for Natural History is awak-
ened, as dredging, where it can be carried on under
favourable circumstances. It is not on every coast that
dredging can be practised. On some, the surf is ha-
bitually too great to admit of boating, as on parts of
the west of Ireland, where a rock-bound shore presents
no harbours for boats, and the fishermen are destitute of
any other than canvas canoes, totally unfit for the pur-
poses of dredging. On these coasts the broad waves of
the Atlantic, continually rolling in, keep up a troubled

NATURALISTS DREDGE.

117

water, in wliich the pursuits of the deep-sea naturalist
can rarely be carried on. In other places, a rocky, or as
it is technically called a foul, bottom, presents insuper-
able obstacles to the use of a dredge. It is only, there-
fore, in certain favoured localities that dredging can be
resorted to as an amusement by the frequenter of the
sea-shore. Land-locked bays and harbours, where a quiet
water flows over a smooth or a shingly bottom or lies
on oyster- or scallop-beds, are the favourite ground for
the amateur dredger ; and these will generally yield him
abundance of sport for the length of a summer-day.

Those who have never seen a dredge may wish to have
one described. There are several varieties of the instru-
ment. The common
one, with a single
scraper, being in use
among the fishermen
on most parts of the
coast, needs no de-
scription, as it may
generally be had by
inquiring of your
boatman ; but there
is another kind, to
which the name of
Naturalist's Dredge
may be given, which
possesses some advantages over the common dredge,
and which can only be had by ordering it specially of
a blacksmith. This kind was first recommended many
years ago by Mr. Robert Ball, the well-known zoolo-

NATURALIST 3 DKEBGE.

118 naturalist's dredge.

gist, and its value has been largely tested, especially
in deep-sea dredging. It is an iron rectangular frame,
made with a scraper at each side, and having a bag
attached to it in the usual manner. Its handles are
moveable, being connected by eyelet holes with the bars
of the frame below, and united, where they join above,
by a ring and screw, so that when you wish to pack up
the dredge, the handles, on the ring being unscrewed,
fold up, and the whole fits into a small compass. This
compactness is one advantage of this kind of dredge, as
it renders it much more easy of carriage. But its great
value lies in the double scraper, which makes it a mat-
ter of no consequence on which side the instrument is
thrown down. It cannot be reversed. The top and
bottom being alike, it is a matter of indiiference which
shall scrape the ground. In working with a common
dredge, if the instrument be not carefully thrown down
it is very liable to overset, and unless it fall with the
scraper in the proper position, it will not collect any-
thing. The Naturalist's Dredge cannot overset, because
either side scrapes equally well. And this, when dredg-
ing in deep water, is a quality of the greatest value.

We will suppose the dredger afloat, on a fine day and
in a favourable locality, furnished with his dredge, and
with some collecting boxes and bottles, and a sieve to
sort the smaller animals from the mud and silt. When
the water is clear and not very deep, the aspect of the
bottom, as the boat glides quietly over it, often affords
a charming submarine picture, as well as reveals the
places where the dredge may be most profitably thrown
down. The larger sea-weeds, seen like a forest waving

DRAGGING FOR SEA-WEEDS.

119

in the clear water below you, generally mark the posi-
tion of rocks, and forbid the use of the dredge ; but
often the treasures of such ground may be rifled by
using another instrument, called a drag, which can
sometimes be employed on foul ground with much effect.
This instrument consists of
a series of hooks attached
to a transverse bar and con-
nected with a rope. It ought
to weigh at least five or six
pounds. This is to be drag-
ged along among the leaves

/» ,1 T 1 DRAG.

01 the large sea-weeds, care

being taken, when the ground is very foul, not to
allow it to fall into holes among the rocks, in which
it would be liable to be caught. By suffering it to drag
among the sea-weeds, some of these will be detached,
and being caught by the hooks, may readily be hauled
up ; and such leaves often afibrd a rich harvest. The
stems and fronds of the Great Oar-weed are very gene-
rally clothed with smaller Algse, of which many species
are to be obtained only on them. The beautiful Ptilota
plumosa is altogether confined to the stems oi Laminaria
digitata, and these stems are also the favourite habitat
of many other of the more delicate Floridoe. Calliihatyb-
nion Fliima, a minute but very beautiful species, forms
upon them a covering resembling fine crimson velvet ;
Delesseria ruscifolia ; Rhodymenia palmetta, and Poly-
siphonia x(,rceolata, are also commonly to be met with.
The number of marine animals attached to these weeds
is also considerable. Several of the Sertularian and

120 PAEASITES ON LAMINARIiE.

otlier Zoophytes ; various and beautiful kinds of Bo-
tryllus and of other compound Ascidians, as well as se-
veral of the Gasteropodous Molluscs, may be collected
either on the broad leaves or among the roots of the
Laminarife. Two kinds of Patella (P. 2^e.llucicla and P.
Icevis), both remarkable for longitudinal streaks of iri-
descent colours on an olive shell, may be found feeding
on the Laminarise ; the former generally upon the broad
leaves, — the latter among the fibres of the root, or upon
the fleshy stem, and very frequently within the bulb of
L. hulbosa. To the labours of these little Molluscs may,
indeed, be partly attributed the annual destruction of
these gigantic Algee. Eating into the lower part of
the stems, and destroying the branches of the roots,
they so far weaken the base, that it becomes unable to
support the weight of the frond ; and thus the plant is
detached and driven on shore by the waves.

At depths beyond which the Laminariae cease to
vegetate, — that is, from about four to ten fathoms,
— the bottom of the sea is frequently covered with a
vegetation of a very different character, which, indeed,
will scarcely be taken, by a hasty observer, to belong to
the vegetable kingdom at all. In speaking of Coral-
lines in a former chapter, I alluded to a kindred race
of vegetables, called Nullipores or Melobesise, of a stony
character, whose outward coating and much of whose
interior fabric, are composed of carbonate of lime, se-
creted in their cells, and forming an organized portion
of their bodies. Vegetables of this class bear a striking
resemblance to the skeletons of some of the larger cal-
careous Zoophytes, especially to some of the Celleporse j

NULLIPORES.

121

but they may always be known from true Zoophytes
by the absence of pores, or polype-cells, in the surface ;
and when their structure is carefully examined with a
microscope, their vegetable nature is still more obvious.
To examine one of the Nullipores, it is necessary that
a portion of the specimen intended for examination be
first macerated for some time in dilute muriatic acid.
This will dissolve the opake carbonate of lime which
fills the cellsj and leave the tissue in a state in which
minute portions of it may readily be dissected, and
placed under the microscope. It will then be found of

NULLTPOBES,

a nature precisely similar to the cellular tissue of other
Algae. In their outer aspect the Nullipores are of very
various characters. Some of them resemble Lichens in
form, being thin as paper, expanding into leafy lobes,
and forming circular patches on the surface of rocks.
In others the leafy lobes stand erect, or are laid one
beside another in globose masses, something like the
gills of a mushroom. Others are much more solid, and
resemble masses of smooth calcareous rock, here and
there rising into wart-like prominences ; and others
again are very much branched, like stony trees or

. 122 PARASITES ON NULLIPOEJI.

shrubs. When growing, the colour of the frond is more
or less of a livid purple, becoming, on the death of the
plant, of a brick-dust hue. Various others of the
smaller Alga3, and a considerable number of marine
animals, may be collected on the Nullipore-banks.
Among the Algse which especially frequent the Nulli-
pores, one of the most interesting is Padinella parvula,
an olive. Lichenoid species, very frequently found at-
tached to various Nullipores. Poli/sijjhonia parasitica,
P. suhulifera, and P. furcellata, are also among the
rarities frequently found in this locality ; and the more
common plants are Rhodymenia, bifida, E. ciliata, and
broad varieties of Dictyota dichotoma. Among animals,
several of the Annelides, and some of the Naked Mol-
luscs, will reward the zoologist ; and the collector of
minute shells may secure several of the Rissoce on this
ground. Banks of Nullipores are, however, not very
prolific ; and though they afford sufficient interest for
a few hauls of the dredge, and are therefore always
worth a visit, their variety is soon exhausted, and the
dredger soon satiated. Very frequently, also, a large
portion of the bank consists of dead fronds, and these
yield little to interest the explorer.

A more fertile ground for the dredger is found on the
borders of scallop- or oyster-banks, the former being
generally at a depth below the level at which most
marine plants vegetate, though an occasional straggler
here and there maintains its ground. On scallop-
banks, in from ten to fifteen or twenty fathoms, the
variety of marine animals is so great, that the dredge
rarely comes up without bringing with it some object

PLANARIA.

123

to interest the dredger. These are of many races,
extending upwards from the simplest members of the
animal kingdom, the Sponges, to the more highly or-
ganized Molluscs. In so great a variety, I can notice
only a few of the more striking species.

I shall begin with an animal of a very low type of
structure, the Planaria. Of this genus some species are
found in the sea, though
the majority are natives
of fresh water, where
they may be seen glid-
ing over the stems and
leaves of water plants,
and among the threads
of Confervoe, feeding on
such small animals as
come in their way, and
as they are able to over-
come. The species re-
presented in our figure
was taken on the west
coast of Ireland. It was
about two inches long,
of an oval form, very
thin and flat, of a milky
white colour, marked with narrow longitudinal stripes
or lines, of a dark-brown or blackish hue. It had
two ear-like appendages at its broader end ; and its
other extremity, or tail, was somewhat pointed. The
ears were curved backwards, and finely dotted with
minute specks. It moved along with some rapidity.

PLANARIA VITTAT

124 INSENSIBILITY OF PLANARI^.

chiefly by contraction of tlie margin, whicli was more
or less curled while the body kept in motion. On
being captured, it was put into a bottle of sea-water,
in company with some other animals, for the purpose of
further examination ; but one of these (I am uncertain
which) attacked, and actually eat ofi' about half the
body of the Planaria before it was detected. The latter,
however, seemed to feel no inconvenience from the loss
of its hinder parts, and moved about as rapidly, and
with as much apparent ease and pleasure, as if nothing
had occurred. This insensibility to mutilation is a com-
mon character of these animals, and seems to show that
they have really, as well as apparently, no nervous cen-
tres. It is well known that if a Planaria be cut in
pieces, all the several parts will continue to live and
move about ; and each of them, however small, will, in
due time, become a perfect animal, complete in all its
parts. But what is still more curious, it has been ob-
served that if the Planaria be mutilated while in
motion, its separate parts will continue to move in the
same direction as the animal had been following be-
fore the mutilation. This is a very curious fact, as the
parts of most other animals which are similarly viva-
cious, when broken up, move off in opposite directions.
According to the observation of anatomists, the flesh
of the Planaria is of a very simple structure, nearly
gelatinous, with little or no trace of muscular fibre ;
and no traces of nervous filaments have been clearly as-
certained. Some species, however, have coloured specks
at the anterior end of the body ; and these have been
supposed to be eyes, though no proof of their being

ANNELIDES, OR EED-BLOODED WORMS. 125

organs of vision has been discovered. There is but
one aperture, which serves the place both of mouth
and vent. This communicates with a much-branched
stomach, where the food is received and digested ; and
the undigested matter is rejected by being driven back
by the way through which it came. Besides this diges-
tive apparatus, there is a rudimentary vascular system,
consisting of a delicate network of vessels ramifying
through the body. Such is the simple arrangement of
parts in these animals. They were formerly placed near
the Leeches, which are of a much higher type of struc-
ture, though externally somewhat similar ; but they are
now arranged with the intestinal worms, to which their
structure nearly allies them. None of the Planarice,
however, are found in the bodies of other animals.

A considerable number of the class of Annelides — the
group to which the Common Earth Worm and the Leech
belong — are natives of the sea, and many of them are
objects of great beauty. Some are curious in their
structure ; and others, equally curious and beautiful, are
sought after by fishermen to be used as bait. All these
animals have so much general resemblance to each
other, that it requires little observation to recognize any
as belonging to the group, when you are once familiar
with any member of it. They are all of a long, gene-
rally a worm-like form, capable of contracting conside-
rably in length, and of extending the body again. The
body is composed of a set of rings or joints, connected
by a common flexible skin or covering ; and every
joint, except the first, which serves as a head, and the
last, which constitutes the tail, is precisely like the

126 STRUCTURE AND CLASSIFICATION

one above or below it, save in size; those of tbe middle
portion of the body being frequently larger than the
rest. The head is frequently furnished with eyes, and
with more or less perfectly formed tentacula, or feelers.
It contains the mouth, which in many species is armed
with formidable jaws, or with cutting teeth, which fur-
nish these voracious creatures with a powerful means
of attacking their prey. Most, if not all, of them are
carnivorous. The blood-sucking propensities of some,
as of the Common Leech, are proverbial. The blood of
all these worms is remarkable for its red colour, and it
circulates through a double system of arteries and veins.
The mode in which this blood is aerated varies con-
siderably in different members of the class ; and as the
differences of breathing apparatus indicate important
varieties of habit among these animals, these differences
have been happily chosen by Cuvier, as the basis on
which his systematic division of Annelibes, or Eed-
blooded Worms, is constructed. He divides this class
of animals into three groups or orders. In the first,
which he calls Ahranchiata, there is no external breath-
ing apparatus; but along the sides of the body are
disposed a number of minute holes, by which the sur-
rounding medium, be it air or aerated water, is freely
admitted into little bags, concealed beneath the skin.
Over the membranous surface of these bags the blood-
vessels form a delicate network, by which the contained
fluid is exposed, through the thin membranous wall, to
the action of the air or water. To this group belong
the Earth Worms, the Leeches, and several creatures of
similar habits, frequenting muddy places in aestuaries

OF THE ANNELIDES. 127

and rivers. In the second family, or DorsibrancMata,
external breathing organs, or gills, often resembling
beautiful feathery tufts, are attached in pairs either to
every segment of the body, or to a certain number of
the middle segments. These organs sometimes dis-
play the most elegant varieties of form and the richest
colours, and afford, by their minor variations, excel-
lent characters for classifying the smaller groups or
genera. To this order belong the majority of the marine
Annelides ; and among the rest, the Arenicola piscato-
rum (Lug Worm), so commonly used as bait by fisher-
men. Lastly, there is the family called Tubicola, which
differs from the two preceding groups in being com-
posed of sedentary animals. In both the former orders
the animals possess considerable activity : as the Earth
Worm, which pushes its way through the soil, in which
it excavates extensive galleries ; or, as the Leech, which
progresses by successive steps by means of the suckers
attached to its head and tail : or as the individuals of
the Dorsibranchiate order, which creep along by means
of the bristly oars attached to each joint of the body,
or swim through the water by the help of the same
organs. But in the Tubicola we find a set of animals
which have partly the aspect of Earth Worms, partly
that of Dorsibranchiate Worms, yet which differ from
both in having the greater part of their body enclosed
in a more or less perfectly formed tube or shell, which is
permanently attached to some extraneous object. When
the animal has once taken up its position, it remains
fixed throughout its life. The greater part of the body
being enclosed in the sheath, we do not find the gills or

128

SPECIES OF SERPULiE.

breathing-holes distributed throughout its length, where,
indeed, they could scarcely be of any use; but we find
them confined to the uppermost segments, or head, round
which they form a most elaborate and richly-tinted col-
lar of lace, which even Queen
Elizabeth herself might have
been proud to wear.

Some of the commonest,
as well as most perfect, ex-
amples of the order Tuhi-
cola, are the various kinds of
Serpula; the smaller species
of which may be found on al-
most every sea-weed, at least
on all the more coarsely-
growing kinds, as well as on
every object which has lain
for any length of time in the
sea. Stones near low-water-
mark ; shells, whether dead
or living ; pieces of crockery-
ware, or even iron instru-
ments,— any substances, in
short, which lie quietly at
the bottom of the sea, and
aflFord a point of attachment, are seized on in time by one
Serpula or another as a foundation for his worm-like
house. The tube in which these worms encase themselves
is formed of regular shell, apparently secreted like the
shells of the Mollusca, by the outer covering or skin of
the animal. It rarely possesses any colour but white, and

SERPULARIA TUBULARIA. 129

is usually opake and milky. In some species it is trans-
parent and brilliant as glass ; in some it is round, in
others sharply angular ; in some perfectly smooth, in
others transversely wrinkled. Some species constantly
coil up their tubes in a nearly regular, spiral manner,
others twist them into every variety of shape. In some
the tube is prostrate, in others erect ; and in some it is
prostrate during its early growth, and afterwards, when
the animal has attained a mature size, rises upward,
free and erect. Some kinds live in society, others are
solitary. One of the largest of our British kinds, S.
tuhularia, represented in our figure, is very commonly
brought up in the dredge, attached to old dead shells,
&C.J on scallop-banks. It generally is solitary, one
Seiyula occupying a shell to itself, over whose surface
it first winds its way with gradually widening tube,
until, having acquired nearly its full diameter, it rises
from the shell with graceful bend, and prolongs its tube
in an erect position to the length of three or four
inches. The tube is about the thickness of a quill,
of a dull white colour, cylindrical, and marked with
a few transverse wrinkles at short intervals. Within
this tube the animal can wholly retreat, closing the
aperture by means of a shelly plate affixed to a fleshy
horn, which rises at one side of the mouth. When the
animal displays itself, as it opens while seeking for
prey, its head, surrounded by the richly-coloured collar
of gills, composed of numerous slender pieces, pec-
tinated on their inner faces and spreading like a starry
flower, is protruded for some distance from the tube ;
and here it waits, ready to seize on any small animal

K

130 SPECIES OF SABELLA, ETC.

whose curiosity or misfortune may lead it within reach
of its jaws.

Nor are the other members of the family Tuhicola
less curious and beautiful than the Serinda, although
they do not construct so perfect tubes. Instead of
clothing themselves with a shelly tube, secreted by their
skin, these animals, called Sahella, Terehella, and Am-
phitrite form tubes composed of sand or of any small
pieces of shell which they happen to come into contact
with, and which, by means of a viscid matter exuded
from their bodies, they glue together, so as to make
a tolerably regular tubular coat. The empty tubes
of a species of Sahella may often be found on sandy
shores, heaped together along with dead shells and
sea-weed, and the living worm may be found in its
tube, buried in the sand near low-water-mark. These
sand-tubes are neatly constructed of grains of nearly
equal size, glued together into a wall not much thicker
than paper. The form of the tube is cylindrical, or
very narrowly funnel-shaped, the lower end being
smaller, and gradually widening upwards. Other kinds
dwell in society, like the Sahella alveolata, which forms
extensive honeycombed masses, constructed of grains
of sand, and attached to rocks near low-water-mark.
Sometimes a wide surface of the rock is completely
covered by these aggregated tubes. When the water
retires, nothing is seen but the mouths of the tubes, in
each of which a drop of water is generally retained ;
but, when the water again flows in, this sandy honey-
comb is transformed into a scene of much beauty. From
each aperture a neck protrudes, wreathed with concen-

DORSIBRANCHIATA ; THE SEA-MOUSE. 131

trie circles of gilded hairs, and ending in a head sur-
mounted by a branching crown, which reflects rainbow
colours. The whole resembles a bed densely covered
with fairy flowers of strange shape and delicate struc-
ture.

Such are some of the commoner kinds of Tubicolar
Annelides ; those of the Dorsibranchiate order, which
we commonly meet with in dredging, are still more
beautiful, and some of them are among the most splen-
didly coloured objects that the animal kingdom presents
to us. The rainbow tints of the humming-bird, and
the metallic lustre of the gayest beetle, have their equals
in many of the members of this family of worms. If
we are free from associations of disgust at the worm-like
body, we cannot help being struck with the beauty of
its clothing, or the really graceful motions of these little
animals, gliding like serpents among the crevices of
rocks and shelly masses, or half swimming, half crawling
along the bottom of a rock-pool. Naturalists, struck
with their beauty and grace, have assigned to them
the names of nymphs, as Nereis, Eujyhrosyne, Eunice,
Alcio2)a, Aphrodita, and others. Our British seas fur-
nish examples of many of these genera, but, as yet,
the several species have not received, from British
naturalists, that close attention which they deserve, and
a monograph, illustrated by figures, is much wanted
for their elucidation.

A great variety of species, varying in size and form,
may be observed in dredging. One of these, which sel-
dom fails to attract the dredger's notice by the lustre of
its coat, though its frequency may cause it to be thrown

132 STAE-FISHES.

back as of no value, is the Sea Mouse, or Aphrodita
{Halithea) aculeata, which is frequently met with in
dredging over muddy ground. The body of this crea-
ture is oval, three or four inches in length, or sometimes
more, soft, dull grey, clothed with a fine silky substance
on the back, and thinly covered with small hairs which
reflect rainbow colours. The sides are broadly margined
with several rows of stiff purple spines, among which
are long silky hairs half an inch to an inch in length,
of metallic lustre, and reflecting the most brilliant pris-
matic colours. Oranges and greens of the richest tints
are the most abundant. Under the silky hairs of the
back are concealed fifteen pairs of scaly plates, one of
which is afl&xed to each ring of the body, and covers
over the branchial organs or gills. The under surface
is smooth, transversely divided into about forty rings
or segments. Each segment is produced at the margin
into a short fleshy lobe or oar-like body, armed with a
triple row of stifi" spines. These oars, or feet (for they
answer partly the purposes of swimming, partly those of
crawling), may be contracted at the will of the animal
into conical lumps, and the spines may be wholly with-
drawn, each within its proper sheath. The spines are
curious microscopic weapons, each armed with barbed
teeth like those of a fish-spear, capable of inflicting a
severe wound on any soft body.

No one can have thrown down the dredge many times,
on almost any sort of ground, and failed to bring up one
or other of the various animals called Star-fishes, whose
name sufficiently indicates their form. Sometimes the
dredge comes up literally filled with these creatures,

LILY STONES, OR ST. CUTHBEKt'S BEADS. 133

thousands being brought up in a single haul, as if the
bottom were formed of a living bank of them, or as if
we had disturbed a submarine hive in the process of
swarming. The countless myriads of living Star-fishes
which thus cluster together may serve to explain to us
the profusion with which similar animals, whose remains
are now found in rocky strata, were dispersed through
the waters of the early world. But, while we have this
similarity in relative quantity between the modern races
and those of ancient days, we find in this, as in most
other cases, a complete change in the types most com-
mon at different periods of the world's age. The ani-
mals which represent our Star-fishes in early strata have
wholly perished from the modern waters ; and the very
type of structure to which they belonged has nearly be-
come extinct, and is now confined to a very few species.
In the seas which once flowed over the British Islands
there lived a race of Star-fishes whose bodies were af-
fixed, like flowers, to a slender stalk, composed of nume-
rous shelly plates, disposed like the bones in a vertebral
column, and connected together and rendered flexible
by the fleshy coat of the animal. This stalk was fixed
to some foreign body, and thus the Star-fish remained
at anchor, ready to seize upon any animal which came
within the length of its tether, but, unlike its modern
representative, unable to pursue its game to any dis-
tance. The petrified remains of these curious animals are
commonly called Lili/ Stones, or Encrinites, and the joints
of their stem are known by the name of " St. Cuthbert's
beads." Whether they became, at any period of their
life, free from the stalk, and capable of independent

134

YOUNG FEATHER STARS.

motion, is uncertain, as we have no living species to tell
the tale ; and, to judge by the remains found in a fossil
state, it does not appear probable. The modern seas of
Britain furnish us with but a single species of the family
Crinoidce, the group to which the Lily Stars of early
times belonged ; and it is not a little curious that this
species, though it afterwards becomes free, swimming
about like any other Star-fish, is in its infancy affixed
to a stalk perfectly analogous to that of the Encrinite.
When first detected, in this
young state, it was, indeed,
supposed to be a distinct ani-
mal, and believed to be the
pigmy representative of the
Lily Star. Subsequent ob-
servations have shown that
the little creature is merely
the young of the Feather
Star (Comattda rosacea), the
only living Crinoid Star-fish
in the British seas.

Young Feather Stars, or,
as they were called, Penta-
crinus Euro2oeus, are found
affixed to the stems of va-
rious Zoophytes. They are
about half an inch or three-
quarters in height, with a
body more or less resem-
bling (according to its age) the perfect Comatula, fixed
to a column consisting of several pentagonal joints,

PENTACRINUS EtIBOFEUS.

FEATHEK STAB. 135

attached by an expanded base to the Zoophyte. The
column is perfectly flexible, and can be moved at the will
of the animal in any direction. Mr. J. V. Thompson,
who originally discovered this curious little creature,
subsequently succeeded in tracing its developement
until he found the lily-shaped body had acquired most
of the characters of the youngest Comatula which he
could procure in a free state, and was thus led to the
conclusion, which the observations of other naturalists
have since confirmed, that the supposed Pentacrimis was
merely the young of the Comatula, or Feather Star.

The Feather Star itself is certainly the most beau-
tiful of our Star-fishes, but must be seen in a state of life
and activity, as it rises in the dredge, to have all its
beauties appreciated. Like so many of its kindred, it
is exceedingly fragile, breaking up shortly after it finds
itself in captivity, so that it can rarely, even with the
greatest care, be brought to shore in an uninjured state.
The body is small, clothed on the back with dense jointed
filaments, and having five long slender arms cloven
nearly to the base, and thus looking like ten, each
branch being closely feathered with slender processes of
a very elaborate structure. The whole body is of a deep
rose-colour, and resembles, when its arms are expanded,
a beautiful living flower, every part of which seems alive
with independent motions. It would be vain to attempt
in a woodcut to give a just impression of such an object,
and mere description can afibrd but a feeble notion of
its wondrous beauty. The Feather Star is found all
round our coasts, and is frequently brought up in from
ten to twenty fathoms water, attached to difierent kinds

136 OPHIUR^ AND OPHIOCOM^.

of sea-weed, wliicli it lays liold of by means of the claws,
which, tip the filaments that clothe its body.

Professor Forbes's second family, the Ophiuridce, are
those which are now most abundant in the British seas,
and whose remains, were the bottom of our ocean now
converted into rock, would be found in the greatest
plenty through its marbles. It is these that come up
in the dredge in such vast profusion ; yet the different
kinds are not numerous, only twelve having been as yet
noticed on the British shores. They are easily recognised
from the true Star-fishes by their small round bodies,
from which issue five long serpent-like or worm-like legs,
which are armed with spines, and move about in all
directions. When the creature swims or crawls about,
either of which motions it can effect with great ease, its
long legs twist and wriggle, or lash the water like whips,
while the spines serve as additional locomotive organs
over flat surfaces. The British species are classed under
two genera, the OpHiURiE, or Sand Stars, of which two
kinds inhabit our shores, and the Ophiocom^, or Brittle
Stars, of which we possess ten. These last are the most
characteristic of the type, some of them having legs (if
we may so call them) several inches long, and no thicker
than small whipcord, with round bodies half an inch in
diameter. The rays of such species remind us, as Pro-
fessor Forbes well remarks, of so many Centipedes or
Annelides attached, at regular distances, round a little
Sea Urchin. All these animals are very brittle, and if
not plunged, immediately on being gathered, into fresh-
water, so as to cause instant death, it is impossible to
prevent their falling in pieces.

SUCKING FEET OP STAB -FISHES. 137

In the true Star-fishes, or Asteriadoe, the body itself
is divided into rays like those of a star. The rays are
channeled on their lower surface, and pierced by holes,
through which protrude a multitude of suckers, that
serve for organs of prehension, to grasp food, and for
organs of motion to enable the animal to change its
position. It is exceedingly curious to watch the activity
that exists among these numberless sucking feet when
a living Star-fish is placed on its back in a shallow
vessel of water. If it have previously been touched on
the lower surface, all the feet will have recoiled within
the body, leaving nothing visible but a series of minute
tubercles ; but, when the Star-fish is allowed to recover
its ease, they will quickly issue, like so many worms,
from their holes, and, after moving backwards and for-
wards through the water, will bend round in the direc-
tion of the nearest ground : those that first reach it will
affix their suckers, and by contracting will pull down a
portion of the body, so as to enable others to attach
themselves, until, a sufficient number of suckers being
attached, their conjoint power is sufficient to bring
round the body of the Star-fish to its proper position.
These sucking-feet, or cirrhi, are tubular, and filled
with fluid when fully extended. The mechanism by
which they are extended is very simple. Each is con-
nected with a globular vesicle contained within the
body of the Star-fish immediately beneath the hole
from which the sucker issues. When the animal wishes
to extend the feet, the sides of the vesicle forcibly
contract, and in so doing propel the fluid which they
contain into the tubular feet, which then elongate and

138 THE SUN STAR.

become tense ; and wlien it desires to withdraw them, a
contraction of its muscles drives back the fluid into the
concealed vesicle. By this alternate action all the neces-
sary motions are obtained. The skeleton of a Star-fish,
or that part which remains when all the soft flesh has
been removed, is a wonderfully beautiful structure, con-
sisting of hundreds of nicely-fitted calcareous pieces
arranged in a regular pattern, perfectly symmetrical in
all its parts. We cannot undertake to write a description
of such a skeleton, which resembles a piece of crochet-
work ; but one may easily be procured by any person
who will take the trouble to pick up a Star-fish on the
shore, and place it for some days in an ant-hill. These
nimble anatomists will soon remove all the soft parts,
and polish the bones with the greatest care, without in-
juring or displacing the minutest portion of the shell.
An interesting series of specimens might be obtained by
preparing such skeletons of all our native kinds.

The British species of true Star-fishes are fourteen,
which are considerably more varied in character than
the Ophitjrid^, or Brittle Stars. In the latter group
we have but two generic types ; but in the former there
are no less than eight, distinguished from each other
by characters taken from the outline of the body, the
number of rows of sucking feet, and the arrangement
of the spines covering the surface and bordering the
avenues.* These diiFerences are readily seen, and the
groups indicated by them appear naturally associated.
One of the most beautiful of the commoner kinds is the
Sun Star (Solaster papposaj, whose disc is surrounded

* Forbes's " Starfishes," p. 75, &c.

THE LINGTHORN. 139

by twelve or thirteen broad rays, and the whole of
the upper surface covered with tubercles ; each tubercle
crowned with a tuft of eighteen or twenty long striated
spines. The colours are variable, but generally brilliant.
Frequently the whole is a brilliant red ; sometimes the
disc is redj and the rays white, and sometimes the whole
surface is deep purple. Professor Forbes once took a
specimen, in which the body was of a fine red, while the
spiniferous tubercles were bright green. Very different
in aspect from the Sun Star is the Birdsfoot Sea Star
fPalmijyes memhranaceus), one of the most singular of
our native species. In this the body is pentagonal,
with very blunt angles, separated by wide and shallow
sinuses, and the whole is so exceedingly thin that it
looks more like a piece of shagreened skin than any-
thing else. The colour is white, with a red centre and
five red rays proceeding one to each angle. The whole
upper surface is covered with tufts of minute spines,
arranged in rows. Lastly, I may mention the Lingthorn
( Luidia fragilissimaj, the largest and one of the most
interesting of our British species, and very different in
aspect from either of those already noticed. It appears
to be peculiar to the British seas, and has been taken
on various parts of the coast. Those that I have seen
in a living state were dredged on the Galway coast.
This Star-fish measures at least two feet across. Its
body is deeply divided into five or seven lobes, which
taper much to the extremity, and are many times longer
than the breadth of the disk. The upper surface is per-
fectly flat, and densely clothed with minute tufted spines,
while the margins of the lobes are fringed with several

140 HABITS OF THE LINGTHORN.

rows of longer spines. The suckers are very long and
active. The colour is an orange or brick-red on the
upper surface, and on the lower a pale yellow. But the
most curious circumstance connected with this Star-fish, .
and which indicates an analogy to the Brittle Stars, is
the power which it possesses of breaking itself to pieces
under the influence of rage or despair. Professor Forbes
gives the following amusing account of its propensities :
" Never having seen one before, and quite unconscious
of its suicidal powers, I spread it out on a rowing bench,
the better to admire its form and colours. On attempt-
ing to remove it for preservation, to my horror and dis-
appointment, I found only an assemblage of rejected
members : my conservative endeavours were all neutral-
ized by its destructive exertions, and it is now badly
represented in my cabinet by an armless disc and a
discless arm. Next time I went to dredge on the same
spot, determined not to be cheated out of a specimen in
such a way a second time, I brought with me a bucket
of cold fresh water, to which article Star-fishes have a
great antipathy. As I expected, a Luidia came up in
the dredge, a most gorgeous specimen. As it does not
generally break up before it is raised above the surface
of the sea, cautiously and anxiously I sunk my bucket
to a level with the dredge's mouth, and proceeded in the
most gentle manner to introduce Luidia to the purer
element. Whether the cold air was too much for him,
or the sight of the bucket too terrific, I know not ; but
in a moment he proceeded to dissolve his corporation,
and at every mesh of the dredge his fragments were
seen escaping. In despair I grasped at the^largest, and

MADREPORIFORM TUBERCLE. 141

brought up the extremity of an arm, with its terminat-
ing eye, the spinous eyelid of which opened and closed
with something exceedingly like a wink of derision."*

The dismembered fragments of the Ltddia continue
active long after their dispersion. The feet move about
and attach themselves to any object that comes within
their reach, retracting and pushing out with as much
vigour as they did when the creature was entire. A
similar irritability is often seen in the dismembered
portions of other of the lower animals which indulge
in these " destructive" propensities.

The Star-fishes possess a curious organ, whose use has
not hitherto been satisfactorily ascertained by anatomists.
Its position is indicated externally by a sort of wart,
placed on some part of the upper surface of the disc
and marked with radiating striae, resembling the plates
of a Madrepore or the gills of a Mushroom. This body
is commonly called the madreporiform tubercle. When
the animal is cut open, a curved calcareous column,
composed of minute hexagonal plates, united together
into larger, joint-like portions, and invested with a skin,
is seen connecting the inner surface of the tubercle with
the plates about the mouth. After mentioning the
various offices attributed to it, none of which appear
satisfactory, Mr. Forbes seems inclined to regard it, with
Dr. Coldstream, as the analogue of the stalk of the Cri-
noid Star-fishes ; an opinion Avhich will be acceptable to
all who delight to contemplate the unities of nature.
We leave the uses of this curious organ untold — to be
determined by future observation ; but we see in its

* Forbes's "Star-fishes," p. 138.

142 THE COMMON EGG UKCHIN :

structure a memory kept up of an organ whicli is more
fully developed in a kindred race.

The Star-fishes are closely connected with another
family, which differs chiefly in the more condensed form
of the body, and the more perfect solidification of its
shelly coat. I mean the Sea Urchins, of which more j
kinds than one frequently come up in the dredge. The
common Egg Urchin {Echinus &plicera), the largest and
best known of our British species, may be taken as an
example of the race. On comparing one of these Urchins
with a Star-fish, such as the Luidia, there is, at first
sight, so little outward similarity, that we should scarcely
suppose their close connexion. But the more we exa-
mine them, the greater is the number of points which
we establish between them : — the rows of sucking feet
common to both ; the radiating lines in which all the
organs are disposed, and the correspondence between the
compartments into which the body is divided. There
remains, in the opposite scale, the difference of form.
But when we examine a series of Star-fishes, we find a
beautiful gradation of form, in which those with the
longest rays are insensibly connected with others which
are scarcely more radiated than some Urchins. There
are flat, discoid Urchins, and others of every degree of
convexity, till we come to the globose form of our Sea
Egg. We have also, in the Sea Eggs, the representative
of the madreporiform tubercle of the Star-fishes, in a
state certainly much reduced, but sufficiently obvious.
So that, on the whole, the evidence in favour of the
close affinity of these two families of animals greatly
outweighs that against their connexion.

ITS ORGANS OF MOTION. 143

The Egg Urchin (Echinus sphoera) is so well known
that I scarcely need enter into a minute description of
its form. As commonly seen ornamenting the chimney-
pieces of cottages near the sea-side, it is a slightly de-
pressed sphere, divided, by five double rows of minute
holes (called ambulacra), into ten gore-shaped spaces,
of which each alternate one is twice as broad as the
other. These spaces are moreover studded with rows of
pearls, arranged with much regularity, and of various
sizes. When the animal was alive, a short white spine,
used by the Urchin as an organ of motion, or of de-
fence, was articulated by a socket-joint to each pearly
tubercle, which formed the ball on which it freely
revolved. From each pair of holes of the ambulacra
issued a sucker, like that of the Star-fish, and used for
the same purposes. So that the Urchin, which now
looks so armless and bald, was furnished with hundreds,
nay, thousands, of active organs, arms or legs, as he
required them. Nor were these by any means all the
apparatus with which he was provided. On the surface
of his coat, among the spines, were multitudes of ex-
ceedingly minute and beautifully-formed pwicers, which
were in perpetual action, moving about from side to
side, and opening and shutting their three-forked apex
continually. These most singular organs, which are
also found on some Star-fishes, are called by naturalists
pedicellarice ; but their use to the animal is wholly
unknown, and by some writers they are described as
parasitic creatures of difierent species. I can hardly
so regard them, and, whatever their office may be,
must suppose them a part of the animal on which

144

PEDICELLABIiE.

they are found. The annexed drawing will give a
general idea of their appearance in the Egg Urchin.
They are of three kinds, differing from each other in
the form of the head. Below, a hard, calcareous
column, slightly knobbed at each end, enclosed by

the stalk, which is
slender there ; but,
where the column
ends, widens into
what is called the
neck. This part, com-
posed of a tough
skin, is quite trans-
parent, and very
flexible, and while
life continues it
bends about in all
At the summit of this neck is a convex
head, crowned with three hard, calcareous teeth, beau-
tifully sculptured, and of three principal shapes ; some
long and slender, others short and very obtuse. A
more full account of their history and structure will
be found in Forbes's " Star-fishes," p. 155 — 159.

The shell of the Egg Urchin is not at all less curious
than the organs with which it is clothed. The globose
box in which the softer parts of the animal are shut up,
is by no means the simple crustaceous body which, at
first sight, it may seem to be ; but is built up of several
hundreds of pieces, accurately fitted together, like the
fragments which compose a fine piece of mosaic work.
The lines which separate them are scarcely visible,

PEBTCELl-AEJ^.

directions.

STRUCTURE OF AN URCHIN SHELL. 145

without close inspection ; but the shell may easily be,
if allowed to macerate for some days in fresh water,
broken up into its component parts. These will be found
to be of various sizes and shapes, in different parts of the
shell, but nearly all are pentagonal, and one so nicely
fitted to the other, that no minute space is left without
its covering. The very complex structure of this shell
may at first seem to be a waste of skill, an expenditure
of contrivance uncalled-for by the wants of the creature.
But we may be assured that there is no such waste in
Nature; and, in the present instance, the structure is
easily accounted for, and may be shown to be the best
which could be devised to answer the required purpose.
It is required to form a globose shell sufficiently hard
to afford protection to the soft parts of the animal, and
so constructed that it will gradually enlarge, with the
growth of the creature, without any alteration of form.
A simple crust would not answer these purposes, for,
once formed and hardened, it would be incapable of
further growth. A crust, composed of a multitude of
pieces, as this is, completely answers the purpose; for
the whole body may be caused to increase in growth,
with the greatest regularity, by constant minute addi-
tions to the edges of the several pieces. And this is
the method by which the shell of the Urchin does
increase. If we examine a living Urchin, we shall find
that every portion of the surface of the shell, and even
of the spines, is coated over with a delicate living mem-
brane, and that this membrane insinuates itself between
each of the pieces of the shell, however closely pressed
together they appear. In this membrane resides the

L

146 DENTAL APPABATUS

faculty of secreting the carbonate of lime for the forma-
tion of shell, and this, as fast as it is secreted, is de-
posited, layer after layer, round the edges of each plate,
so that these are constantly enlarging during the active
growth of the animal, till it has attained its full size.
The spines are deposited in the same way, by the mem-
brane which clothes them, and exhibit, in their struc-
ture, as seen in the microscope, the most exquisitely
beautiful and regular arrangement of particles that can
well be conceived. Under the ceaseless activity of the
vital power, the deposition of shelly matter proceeds,
and results in a structure whose exactness and beauty
it would be vain to imitate.

The bony contents of the shell are not at all less ela-
borate ; and when we consider the apparently low grade
of the animal for whose use they are designed, and the
simplicity of other parts of its organization, we cannot
fail to be struck with wonder at the amount of skill and
contrivance lavished on its dental apparatus. The pre-
hension of food is certainly the first requirement of
animal life, and consequently we find the organs con-
nected with its mastication and digestion, — the mouth
and stomach, — those that are most prominently deve-
loped in the lower animals. Some of these appear to
be mere stomachs, endowed with a capacious gullet, and
a set of sucking lips. In others, the organs for cutting
or tearing food, or for grinding it to jelly, are extremely
powerful j and when their strength is compared with
the weakness or inertia of their other organs, they give
us that impression of disproportion which leads to the
idea of monstrosity, and which may, in some degree

OF THE EGG URCHIN, 147

account for the disgust or horror witli which we view
many of these creatures. Indeed, except in their minute
size, they resemble iu their characters many of the
fabled monsters of antiquity, whose voracity was one of
their most appalling qualities. Magnify any of the
insect race, or of the worms to the size of elephants or
serpents, and what portentous monsters they become !
Their mouths and jaws seem utterly disproportionate in
strength and complexity to the rest of their structure,
though not at all disproportionate to the office which
these scavengers of creation discharge in the general
scheme. But few animals can boast a dental appara-
tus equal in complexity to that of the Egg Urchin ; a
set of harder-pointed teeth ; more grinding jaws, with
a surface regularly " dressed," like that of a millstone ;
or stronger and more varied muscular bands, by which
the motions of the whole structure are regulated. In
an Urchin of the usual size this system of bony jaws
and teeth forms a conical body, about an inch and a
half long, placed with its pointed end toward the large
aperture at the base of the shell, and extending back-
wards into the body of the animal. It is attached by
strong muscles to five bony arches that surround the
mouth of the shell, and several other sets of muscles
serve to propel it forward, to cause it to retreat, to
move the mass from side to side, or to cause the jaws
to act one on another, like pairs of millstones. The
cone consists of five triangular pieces or jaws, hollowed
out, Afith an opening down the centre in front ; arched
behind, and with the two sides flattened and finely
grooved. In the hollow of these jaws is placed a long

148 SEA CUCUMBEKS.

moveable tooth, whicli plays up and down. When the
cone is put together, the flat, dressed surfaces of the five
jaws, which stand round in a circle, are brought into
contact. All the food which is received at the mouth
must pass between these surfaces ; and as there are sys-
tems of muscles which enable them to play up and down
and across, a more perfect mill for grinding down the
food cannot well be conceived. We have not space more
fully to describe it, but the excellent popular account
given by Professor Jones,* and the examination of a
living specimen, will enable any one to understand the
uses of the several parts of this singular mechanism.

Of the same class with the Sea Urchins and Star-
fishes, but exhibiting its characters in a weaker degree,
and showing in form and structure a tendency towards
the Annelides, are the Holotla(,riadce, or Sea Cucumbers,
of which several species occasionally come up in the
dredge. Their name. Sea Cucumbers, is very expres-
sive of their form in a contracted state, when the body
shrinks up into an oblong mass, slightly tapering to
each end, and rough with wrinkles and with the rows of
sucking-feet, which it has in common with the Urchins
and Star-fishes. In its texture it is tough and leathery,
without calcareous plates. The absence of a shell, the
presence of feathery tentacula about the mouth, and
the shape of the body, are differences between these
creatures and the Urchins ; while the two latter circum-
stances, together with the mode of progression by alter-
nate contractions and extensions of the body, connect
them with the Annelides. The general form of this
* " General Outline of the Animal Kingdom," p. 166, &c.

THYONE PAPILLOSA.

149

''.=='i*Vv5>^r^=^^-

THYONK PiPILLOaa

family may be understood from the annexed figure,
which represents Tliyone iwpillosa, a species found on
various parts of the coast. It differs from other animals
of the family chiefly by having its sucking-feet scat-
tered in an irregular manner over the whole surface,
instead of being confined to five rows along the angles
of the body. In other respects it resembles most of its
kindred. Its length is about three inches, but it can
at pleasure extend and contract considerably. T|ie
colour is a dusky brownish-white, sometimes varied with
spots. The tentacula, commonly whitish, are ten in
number, pinnate, and capable of being much expanded,
or wholly retracted within the orifice of the mouth.
In captivity it is not always easy to persuade it to put
forth these delicate organs to their full extent, but a
bath of clean water will often put it into good-humour.
We have already noticed the self-destruction of some

150 DEEP-SEA ZOOPHYTES.

of the Star-fishes : the Sea Cucumbers have an equally
singular habit of a similar kind. As their skin is too
tough and strong to admit of voluntary dismemberment,
they resort to the unique mode of vomiting up their
intestines — in fact, the whole of their internal organs.
Yet it does not appear that life is destroyed by this
process. At least, it does not suddenly cease ; and,
according to the observations of Sir J. G. Dalyell, the
lost parts are renewed, after months have elapsed, even
in cases where the disemboweling process has been car-
ried to an extreme point, leaving " the body an empty
sac." Holothurise are often taken with their internal
parts more or less deficient, yet apparently existing in
health and vigour : in such, probably, the lost parts
are in process of restoration.

Many interesting members of the class of Zoophytes,
or compound Polypes, are met with in dredging, a
general account of whose classification has been given in
a former chapter. For a more specific account of the
deep-sea species, I must refer to Dr. Johnston's admira-
ble work on the subject, and will here just notice some
of the other Asteroid a, which I purposely omitted when
speaking of the other two orders, Hyduoida and He-
LiANTHOiDA. This group is distinguished from either of
the others by a readily seen character, namely, the softer
parts of the compound animal invest and enclose the
harder parts, or skeleton. The coral of all this group is
therefore internal. The precious coral of commerce is
the skeleton of one of these Zoophytes ; and so is the
Gorgonia flahellum, or Venus's Fan, a well-known West
Indian species, which forms a beautiful network, strength-

THE SEA-PEN. 151

ened by a branching system of ribs, like the ribs and
fibres of a skeleton leaf. Four British species of Gor-
gonia, one of them common on the Devonshire coast,
are recorded. G. verrucosa, the commonest of these, is
from six to twelve inches high, and much branched,
like a tree ; but its branches do not form a network.
Its coral has a dense, black axis, of a horny substance,
which encloses a white pith, and is coated with a whitish
crust, covered with warts, arranged in somewhat spiral
lines. Such is the aspect of the dried Polypidom.
When living the crust is soft and flesh-coloured. The
Alcyonium, another member of this order, has already
been noticed. More interesting and beautiful forms
are found in the family of PennatulldcB or Sea-pens, of
which three species, arranged under as many genera,
are natives of Britain. These curious animals present
us with the fact of compound bodies, in all respects ana-
logous to corals, existing in an unattached state (that is
not rooted or fixed to any base, but freely planted in
soft mud), and possibly capable of a motion through the
water from place to place. The fact of this motion has
been asserted by several naturalists, but observations are
wanting in corroboration. The Sea-pen itself {Penna-
tula phosphorea) is one of the most singular and beauti-
ful of the British Zoophytes. The Polypidom is three
or four inches in length, fleshy, of a purplish-red colour,
narrow and naked at the lower end, and feathered on
its upper half with long, closely-set pinnae, along the
margins of which the polype-cells are placed. These
pinnae are obliquely curved backwards, and capable of
separate or united motion; and they have been supposed,

152

VIRGULAEIA MIRABILIS.

VIRQULARIA MIRABTI-IS.

Virgularia mirahilis is

by authors who believe in
the swimming powers of this
Zoophyte, to have the regu-
lar oar-like motion of fins-
Through the centre of the
stalk runs a calcareous co-
lumn, which serves to stiffen
the body of the Polypidom.
When irritated, this Zoo-
phyte is brilliantly phos-
phorescent ; but it does not
emit light unless disturbed,
or under the influence of
pain. Professor Forbes has
remarked that, when it is
touched, the luminosity com-
mences at the point of con-
tact, and proceeds upwards
to the Polypiferous portion
of the Zoophyte, but never
in a contrary direction ; and
when the centre of the poly-
piferous portion is struck^
the Polypes below the injury
are not aff'ected, while those
above it emit light. "When
thrown into fresh water, the
Pennatula scatters sparks
about in all directions, — a
most beautiful sight." The
another of this family, closely

STRUCTURE OF POLYPIDOM AND POLYPES. 153

allied to Pennatula, but of a much more slender form,
resembling a rod, whence its name. It is several inches
long and quite straight, traversed by a cylindrical calca-
reous stem or column, coated with a transparent flesh.
Through nearly its whole length this rod-like body is fur-
nished with short fin-like lobes of a crescent shape, which
approach in pairs, but are not strictly opposite ; — they
are about the eighth of an inch asunder, and are fur-
nished along the margin with a row of urn-shaped polype-
cells. These lobes have the power of contracting, so as
to lie closely imbricated one on another ; and of expand-
ing to an angle of about 30", so as to leave open spaces
between. They are of a pale orange-fawn colour, grace-
fully curved backwards, and each contains about eight
polype-cells. The Polypes are objects of great beauty,
and their form may be very well seen even after death ;
for, though capable of retractation within the cell, the
tentacula have no contractile power, and may be made
to expand in their full extension by merely pressing
upon the cell. The Polype thus displayed is an eight-
rayed star, the rays curved backwards, channeled, and
elegantly pectinated along each margin. In the centre
is the mouth with prominent lips. The Virgularia is
found chiefly in Scotland and the north of Ireland, and
I have taken it recently on the Gal way coast in Bir-
turbui Bay. The only remaining British Zoophyte of
this group, Pavonaria (fiuulrangularis, is exceedingly
rare, and has yet been taken only near Oban, on the
West of Scotland. In its form it bears a consider-
able resemblance to the Virgularia, but is curved,
and of much greater dimensions, the length being

154 INSECTS AND CETTSTACEA DISTINGUISHED,

sometimes forty-eiglit inches. When irritated it emits
a bluish light.

The great class of Crustacea, of which Crabs and
Lobsters are familiar examples, demands some notice,
but is so varied in its aspect and in the numerous types
which its orders, families, and genera present to us,
that I cannot attempt to give, in the few pages to be
devoted to the subject, even an outline sketch of its clas-
sification. I can scarcely do more than notice in this
place a few of the commoner Crabs which one meets
with in dredging.

The class Crustacea of modern authors was included
by Linnseus among his Insects, and formed a part of the
Aptera or wingless insects of that author. The struc-
ture of a Crab or Lobster, or a Wood-louse, which are all
members of the class, does indeed in many ways resem-
ble that of the true Insects. The body is cased with
hard materials, it is divided by articulations into several
rings, it is furnished with jointed legs and with those
curious organs called antennae or feelers, and it possesses
a mouth constructed on a very similar type. There is
one peculiarity, however, in which there is a remarkable
difference between the Crustacea and both the Insect and
Spider Classes. These latter groups of animals are des-
tined to live in the air, and their respiration is conse-
quently performed by lungs. Even such species of them
as are aquatic carry with them under water the quantity
of air necessary to their existence, just as a diver inflates
his lungs before he leaves the surface ; though it is
quite true that some breathe through the medium of
gills while they continue in a rudimentary state. The

GILLS OF CRUSTACEA. 155

Crustacea, being either water animals, or constantly
frequenting very damp places, respire through the me-
dium of gills. This is one important feature in their
economy by which they differ from insects. Another is,
that they continue to increase in bulk after they have
attained the mature form of their kind. In the insect,
increase in bulk, and the changes of skin which it re-
quires, are confined to the metamorphic stages through
which the animal passes, and cease when the limbs
acquire their permanent form. In the Crustacean,
though the earlier stages undergo metamorphoses, some
of them quite as singular as those that we find among
insects, the animal continues to increase in size long
after its limbs have been completely formed ; and the
provision by which this is efi'ected is not the least
curious point in their history. Differences of this im-
portant nature, and others of a similar kind, added to
the immense extent of both classes, have induced mo-
dern naturalists to separate the class Crustacea from
the other articulate animals with which Linnseus com-
bined them.

The different aspects which the gills assume in the
various groups of Crustacean animals, while they afford,
as in other classes, excellent classifying characters, ex-
hibit to us some beautiful adaptations, which are quite
as interesting to the unlettered observer as to the sys-
tematic naturalist. In some of the more minute indi-
viduals of the race, as in the Water-fleas, which may be
found by myriads in any stagnant pool, the respiratory
organs are seated in the legs themselves, whose covering
is so delicate that it admits the vessels that ramify over

156 CRUSTACEA CAST THEIR SHELLS.

it to have sufficient contact witli tlie water to allow of
the perfect aeration of the blood. This little creature
may be said to breathe through its legs and arms,
which may be seen in constant motion, playing through
the fluid, and causing a constant flow of new particles
to the exposed surface of the blood-vessels. Can we
conceive a more ecstatic little being than this, whose
every motion is an inspiration ! at least, whose mus-
cular efforts bear a direct proportion to the aeration of
its blood j the power that is expended in every effort
being renewed by the very act of making that effiart.
In these lowest members of the class we find the legs
themselves performing the office of gills ; but though
among the higher types of structure, the legs are used
for the more common purposes of swimming or walking,
we still find the gills connected with the upper portion
of the legs, where they are inserted into the body. Thus
the active motions of Avalking and swimming contribute
to the aeration of the blood, by causing a correspondent
motion in the branchiae. These organs are lodged in
two chambers, situated one at each side of the under
surface of the carapace or broad shelly plate, which
freely communicate by wide openings with the water.
In opening a Crab or Lobster, at table, these gills gene-
rally come off attached to the bases of the smaller legs.

The dexterity of the Crustacea in casting their shells
is certainly wonderful. When one considers the hardness
of the shelly coat, and the extraordinary forms which it
assumes, especially the large claws terminating slender
arms, and is told that all this coat of mail is annually
thrown off in a single piece by the contained animal,

THE CRAY-FISH. 157

the greatest proficient in Chinese mechanical puzzles
may well be posed at this greater puzzle. One is
tempted to ask, too, remembering the beautiful arrange-
ment provided for the growth of the shell in the Sea
Urchin, why something similar was not devised to assist
the Crab j why one creature should enjoy the protection
of its house of defence at so little trouble, the walls
gradually widening as his wants increase ; while an-
other has, every returning season, either to burst, or by
violent muscular efforts, to flay itself alive, and then
wait, defenceless and naked, till a new coat grows on its
back. I suppose happiness is equally distributed, and
that what would be death to one animal may be sport
to another ! Possibly the extraordinary efforts made
by the Crab or Lobster in throwing off their shells, may
be attended with pleasurable sensations.

The process of moulting has been observed by the
celebrated naturalist Reaumur in the fresh-water Cray-
fish (Astacus fluviatilis), and most probably that of other
kinds is effected in a similar manner. In the autumn
the Cray-fish retires into a hole, where it remains for
some time without food. While thus stationary, the
old shell becomes gradually loosened, and a new and
soft cuticle is formed beneath it. The Cray-fish is now
greatly excited, and by violent efforts seeks to free its
new skin from the old shell, which it is about to cast
away. When this has been done, the difiiculty remains
of escaping from its trammels. Its limbs are so per-
fectly encased in armour that, at first sight, it seems im-
possible to escape from the confinement Avithout break-
ing the shell to pieces. But the Cray-fish has no such

158 VOLUNTARY DISMEMBERMENT.

intention. He knows that by persevering exertions lie
can rid himself of his burden ; and with many violent
efforts, and many a weary struggle, he succeeds in
getting rid, first of the carapace, or body-shell ; then of
the leg-coverings ; then of the tail-piece : and, finally,
of all the shelly coat, down to the coverings of the
antennae ; and even the coating of the stomach, with its
curious dental apparatus. And the whole is thrown ofi"
without loosening the joints or rupturing the shell. It
would be impossible for any mounter of specimens to
extract the flesh with such nicety, and without injury
to any portion of the case.

The power of voluntary dismemberment possessed by
the Star-fishes is shared also by the Crustacea, who will
cast away their legs, and even the ponderous claw-bear-
ing arms, on being alarmed, or on suffering injury in
these members ; and this without the appearance of ex-
periencing pain, or more than temporary inconvenience.
They walk away, with their remaining limbs, as if
nothing particular had happened. After a time the
lost portion is gradually restored, the new limb sprout-
ing out from the stump of the old. Thus Lobsters and
Crabs are frequently met with, one of whose arms is of
much greater size than the other, the smaller one being
evidently a second growth.

The general form of the body and the organs of loco-
motion are considerably varied in the different families
of Crustacea, according to the habits of the animal. In
some of the lower races, the body presents a series of
rings, or pieces nearly of equal form and size, arranged
one after another, and each furnished with a pair of

VARIETIES OF FORM, 159

crawling or swimming legs, the whole animal bearing a
great resemblance to one of the Annelides, but showing
a slight advance in organization. As we rise to higher
and more developed forms, we find a gradual concentra-
tion of the parts of the body, effected by the more or
less perfect coalition of its ring-like parts into solid
pieces. At the same time, one definite idea or plan
seems to pervade the whole class. According to this
idea the body of a Crustacean consists of twenty-one
ring-like pieces, seven of which belong to the region of
the head, seven to the region of the thorax, or central
part of the body, and seven to the abdominal region,
commonly called the tail. In almost every case the
pieces belonging to the region of the head are consider-
ably condensed, their pairs of legs being converted into
the organs of the mouth, which in this class, as in in-
sects, is highly compound in structure. In many of the
lower Crustacea, as in the Isopoda — the group to which
the Wood-louse belongs, and which includes a large
number of marine animals which resemble Wood-lice in
form, — the joints of the thorax are distinct from each
other, resembling rings, and not materially differing from
those of the tail. But in the higher Crustacea, as in the
Lobster, and still more in the Crab, the thoracic portion
is covered externally by a single solid shelly piece. It
appears like a single joint of the body, and its compound
nature is only indicated by the number of pairs of legs
which rise from its lower surface. In some species there
is an indication of rings on the surface of the shell, more
or less evident; but in others all such tokens of compo-
sition are obliterated. The joints of the abdomen or

160 ORGANS OF LOCOMOTION.

tail, which are so evident in the Lobster, are more con-
centrated in the Crabs ; and in the singular animals
called King Crabs {Limuli), common on the shores of
warm countries, a complete concentration of the abdo-
minal pieces takes place, a broad shield, as solid as the
carapace of the Crab, being substituted for the ring-like
plates. These variations of form, from the most perfect
separation of parts to the most complete union, offer
an interesting study; but the change must be traced
through an extensive series of genera and species.

The organs of locomotion are very different in the
different groups. Some Crustacea are adapted for
swimming, others for crawling, and others, again, lead
a nearly sedentary life, as parasites on other animals,
often on fishes, and, in many cases, on the larger Crus-
tacea themselves. The Crabs afford us an instance of
the greatest compactness in the body, — the segments of
the head being minute, and often concealed under the
thorax, and those of the abdomen also of small size, and
coiled up under the ample shield of the same portion ;
so that the whole body seen from above resembles a box.
In this tribe five pair of legs, belonging to the thoracic
portion, are largely developed, the first pair being con-
verted into claws ; and the creature can move with
great ease and considerable speed on land, or crawl
along the bottom of the sea. But its motion, owing
to the position of the legs, is either sideways or back-
wards : it cannot move in a forward direction. In
many Crabs, especially in those that frequent deep
water, the last pair of legs have their terminal joints
very much widened and flattened — in fact, converted

LOBSTER, SPIDER-CRAB. 161

into oars, by the help of which these Crabs swim with
great ease, while the formation of their other legs per-
mit of their crawling with equal facility when they
desire it. In the Lobster, and all the long-tailed Crus-
tacea, such as the various kinds of Shrimp and Prawn, the
tail is the chief instrument of locomotion. Owing to the
form of the body, these animals, notwithstanding their
well-developed legs, make but slow work of it when they
attempt to crawl. But nothing can exceed their activity
in swimming — or, more properly, in darting backwards,
— through the water. The rapid motions of a Shrimp
or Prawn must be familiar to every sea-side visitant.
Those of a Lobster, though less frequently seen, are
equally rapid, and both are effected in the same manner.
The tail in these animals is furnished at its extremity
with a number of broad, flat plates, so placed as to close
together when this organ is extended, and to open and
present a broad fan to the water on every downward
stroke. The Lobster turns his back, which is smooth
and rounded, so as to present little resistance to the
water, in the direction in which he wishes to move, and
then by a vigorous stroke of the tail, whose front,
presented to the water, is concave, and its extremity
furnished with a spreading fan, he can dart backwards
to the distance of eighteen or twenty feet.

Among the Crabs which one commonly meets with in
dredging are several kinds, belonging to more than one
modern genus, to which the popular name of Spider-Crab
is given. These are all characterized by having long
and slender legs like those of Spiders, and generally a
triangular body, more or less pointed, or produced into a

M

1 62 SWIMMING-CRABS.

snout in front. The commonest species of these {Steno-
rhyncus 2>^t,alangium) is met with on most parts of the
coast, frequenting scallop-banks, and similar ground.
Its body is an inch or more in length, triangular, and
rough with several spines, and rising into prominences.
Its legs are three or four times as long as its body,
with long, slender joints, and it has a pair of stout arms,
terminating in large claws. Both legs and arms are
rough with hairs. Its habits are sluggish, its motions
slow and feeble, and when caught it does not show fight
nor make the efforts to escape, which most other Crabs
do on being captured. Very frequently its shell is
completely covered with a growth of sea-weeds or
Zoophytes. Others of the group of Spider-Crabs have
similar habits and general aspect, except that some
are smooth, with fewer prominences on the shell.
Leaving them, we next find the family of Maiadce.
These bear a considerable resemblance to the true
Spider-Crab, especially in the triangular form of the
body, and its usually rough surface ; but their legs are
stouter and less elongate. The resemblance to the
Spider is still sufficiently great, and they obtain this
name from fishermen. The largest of the group, Maia
squinado, is eaten on some parts of the coast. It has an
oval body, very convex, produced in front into two stout
horns, and roughened over all parts of its surface with
spines and tubercles of various sizes. The legs are stout,
and exceedingly rough and hairy, with tuberculated
joints. The claws are small, and the arms not much
stouter than the legs. The family of Swimming-Crabs,
or Portmiidce, many kinds of which are met with in

VELVET- CRABS, MASKED-CRAB. 163

dredging, offers a form of body and limbs strikingly dis-
similar to those of the Spider-Crabs, and a corresponding
diiference of habits. In these the body is generally very
broad in proportion to its length, and wider in front
than it is behind. The front margin of the shell has a
rounded outline, but is more or less toothed ; the ros-
trum is broad, and but little prominent, and the eyes
are widely separated. But the most striking character
of the family is found in the hinder pair of legs, which
are converted into oars, and used by the animal in swim-
ming. The habits of these Crabs are much more active
than those of the Spiders, their limbs much stronger,
and they are all armed with a peculiarly effective pair
of stout pincers. The Velvet-Crab (Fortunus pubet^) is
a well-known species of this family, several of which
are among the most beautiful of the British Crabs. The
Velvet-Crab is so named from its coat, — the whole sur-
face of the shell, and of the legs, except some polished
longitudinal ridges, being covered with a short pile of
soft hairs. The colours of the living animal are a beau-
tiful compound of reddish-brown and blue; but they
soon fade after death. Some remarkable forms of body
are found in the genus Ehalia, Crabs of small size, of
which there are three British species. The carapace in
these is rhomboidal, the lateral angles being much pro-
duced. It is marked with elevations and depressions, so
arranged as to represent a more or less perfectly-formed
face. But the most natural resemblance to a human
face is found in the markings of the shell of Corystes
cassivelaiinus, called from this peculiarity the Masked-
Crab by Professor Bell. It is the Cancer personatus of

164 "pinna and her cancer friend."

Linnaeus. In this species the length of the shell is con-
siderably greater than its breadth, and of an oval form,
with a central ridge which represents the nose, lateral
depressions for the eyes, and a transverse line, bordered
by broad but shallow ridges, for the mouth and lips.
In some specimens the parts of this face are much more
prominent than in others. The species is otherwise
remarkable for the great length of its claws and of its
antennae. It generally frequents deep water, but is
occasionally cast on shore.

I must not omit to notice two species of minute Crabs
whose curious semi-parasitical habits have long rendered
them famous. The readers of Darwin's fantastic poem
must be familiar with the history of

" Pinna and her Cancer friend."

It was known to the ancients that a minute Crab
sought refuge in the shell of the Pinna, and modern re-
search has detected others which take up their residence
within the shells of several other kinds of bivalves, espe-
cially of Mussels and Cockles. These little Crabs belong
to the genus Pinnotheres, and two species are found on
our coast. One of them, P. pisum, is very commonly
found within the shell of the Common Mussel, especially
when raised from deep water. Its shell is from a quar-
ter to nearly half an inch in breadth, rounded and
convex, of a thin substance and brownish colour, with
one or two yellow spots. The other species, P. veterum, is
Tjsually found within the shell of the Pinna, and differs
in being of a more angular form and uniform brown
colour. The habits of both species appear to be similar.

METAMORPHOSES OP CEUSTACEA.

165

They retreat to the shells of the Mollusca, not to feed
on the animal, as a true parasite does, but, as is sup-
posed, for protection, as other animals would take re-
fuge in a nest or cave. The shells of these Crabs, at
least of the female, are very soft and thin, and possibly
this is the cause of their singular habits. It is a pity,
at least for the poet, that truth obliges us to omit the
romantic stories once believed regarding the mutual
affection of the pair thus oddly consorted.

A highly curious fact in the history of the Crustacea
relates to their metamorphoses, the young animal pass-
ing through stages as wonderful as those observed in the
class of Insects. To Mr, J. Vaughan Thompson natu-
ralists are indebted for the
discovery of the metamorphic
stages in the Common Crab,
and several others of the
order to which it belongs.
Other observers have since
witnessed the developement
of many other species, and
thus rendered it probable
that all the higher Crustacea
pass through similar stages
of existence. Before Mr.
Thompson's observations the
little creatures, which are
now known to be young
Crabs, were considered as be-
longing to a distinct genus, called Zoea, placed in a dif-
ferent order of Crustacea, widely apart from the Crab-

ZOEA OF THB CRA.B,

166 COMPARATIVE ANATOMY.

family ; just as a Tadpole might be placed by a person
who merely regarded its form, and was ignorant of its
history, in a widely different family from the parent Frog.
When first hatched, the young of the Crab presents the
singularly grotesque form represented in our figure. It
has a helmet-shaped head, terminating behind in a long
horn, and furnished in front with a pair of huge sessile
eyes, and. it moves through the water by means of its
long swimming tail. After the first change of skin the
body assumes something like its permanent shape ; the
eyes become stalked ; the claws are developed, and the
legs resemble those of the Crab ; but the change is still
incomplete, for the tail is still long and furnished with
false feet, like that of a Lobster. The swimming habit
has not yet been laid aside. At the next stage, while
the little creature is still about the eighth of an inch in
diameter, the crab-form is completed, the abdomen fold-
ing in under the carapace. All the subsequent changes
are merely changes of coat, consequent on the growth of
the now complete animal. In these several metamor-
phoses we see portrayed, in succession, the peculiarities
of three different types, one rising above the other in
structure. In the first stage the Crab resembles one of
the least perfect Crustacea, such as the Water-flea ; in the
second it assumes the aspect of the Lobster ; and finally
puts on the form of the most perfect animals of the
class. Thus it is that Nature advances step by step,
gradually bringing out, through successive stages of
being new organs and new faculties, and leaving as she
moves along, at every step, some animals that rise no
higher, as if to serve for land-marks of her doings

ANALOGIES. 167

through all succeeding time. And this it is that
makes the study of Comparative Anatomy so fascinating.
Not that I mean to favour a theory of developement
which would obliterate all idea of species, by sup-
posing that the more compound animal forms were
developements of their simpler ancestors. For such an
hypothesis Natural History affords no evidence ; but she
gives us, through all her domains, the most beautiful
and diversified proofs of an adherence to a settled
order, in which new combinations are continually
brought out. In this order, the lowest grades of being
have certain characters, above which they do not rise,
but propagate beings as simple as themselves. Above
them are others which, passing through stages in their
infancy equal to the adult condition of those below,
acquire, when at maturity, a perfection of organs pecu-
liarly their own. Others again rise above these, and
thus structures become gradually more compound ; till
at last it may be said that the simpler animals represent,
as in a glass, the scattered organs of the higher races.

ICEBERG AND BARRIER,

CHAPTER VI.

THE MICEOSCOPIC WONDERS OF THE SEA.

An eloquent modern writer, in arguing for tlie exist-
ence on this earth of an invisible world of spirits, draws
a striking illustration of his subject from our connexion
with the lower animals, whose forms we indeed see
around us, but the secrets of whose being, whose motives
of action, and whose final destiny, remain unfathom-
able mysteries. " We are," says he, " in a world of
spirits, as well as in a world of sense, and we hold com-
munion with it, and take part in it, though we are not
conscious of doing so. If this seems strange to any one,
let him reflect that we are undeniably taking part in a
third world, which we do indeed see, but about which

THE WOKLD OP BRUTE ANIMALS. 169

we do not know more than about the angelic hosts, —
the world of brute animals. Can anything be more
marvellous or startling, unless we were used to it, than
that we should have a race of beings about us whom we
do but see, and as little know of their state, or can
describe their interests or their destiny, as we can tell of
the inhabitants of the sun and moon ? It is, indeed, a
very overpowering thought, when we get to fix our
minds on it, that we familiarly use, I may say hold in-
tercourse with, creatures who are as much strangers to
us, as mysterious as if they were the fabulous, unearthly
beings, more powerful than man, yet his slaves, which
Eastern superstitions have invented. We have more
real knowledge about the angels than about the brutes.
They have, apparently, passions, habits, and a certain
accouhtableness, but all is mystery about them. We do
not know whether they can sin or not, whether they
are under punishment, whether they are to live after
this life. We inflict very great sufferings on a portion
of them, and they in turn, every now and then, seem to
retaliate upon us, as if by a wonderful law. We depend
on them in various important ways ; we use their labour,
we eat their flesh. This, however, relates to such of
them as come near us. Cast your thoughts abroad on
the whole number of them, large and small, in vast
forests, or in the water, or in the air, and then say whe-
ther the presence of such countless multitudes, so various
in their natures, so strange and wild in their shapes,
living on the earth without ascertainable object, is not
as mysterious as anything which Scripture says about
the angels 1 Is it not plain to us that there is a world

170 THE MICROSCOPIC WORLD.

inferior to us in tlie scale of beings, Avith wliicli we are
connected without understanding what it is 1 and is it
difficult to faith to admit the word of Scripture concern-
ing our connexion with a world superior to us V

When we consider the animal kingdom from this
point of view, and further reflect that each of the species
of which it consists is as isolated from every other
species, and forms to itself as much a world within its
own borders, as does the human family, — the co-exist-
ence of innumerable phases of being, in the presence of
each other, is more and more wonderful, and may well
lead us to ihfer the reality of things beyond our senses
to perceive, and but dimly revealed to our reason ; and
yet we see but a little way into the wonders of creation,
if we confine our researches to objects visible to the
unassisted eye.

The improvements effected of late years in the micro-
scope, may well be said to have opened to us a material
world of whose existence we should otherwise be wholly
ignorant. The number of species of animals and plants
now known, whose forms are so minute that they are
individually invisible to the naked eye, and only appre-
ciable when collected together in masses, is very great ;
and the catalogue is daily enlarging as the waters of
the sea, and of lakes and ponds, are more carefully sub-
jected to examination. What to the naked eye seems
like a green or brownish slimy scum, attached to the
stalks of water-plants, or floating on the surface of stag-
nant pools, displays to the microscope a series of ele-
gant and curious forms, endowed with a most perfect
symmetry and delicate structure of parts, each acting

DIATOMACE^.

171

in the circle of its narrow sphere as perfectly as the
more bulky creations above it. The great work of
Ehrenberg has made the forms of many of these curious
creatures sufficiently known ; and a most elaborate
monograph of a portion of them,* recently published in
this country, has added much to the general history
of the subject, while it affords to British students
exquisitely accurate figures and careful descriptions
of all the British species of the group illustrated.
The plants included in
this microscopic world are
classed by botanists under
two families, the Desmidiece,
which exclusively inhabit
fresh water, and the Diato-
macece, a great number
of which are marine. The
forms of these minute or-
ganisms are strange ; they
exhibitmathematical figures,
circles, triangles, and paral-
lelograms, such as we find
in no other plants, and their
surface is often most elaborately sculptured. Isthmia
ohliqiiata here figured, is found in spring and early
summer on the stems of many of the filiform Algfe,
where it forms little glittering tufts a line or two in
height. It has been brought from many distant parts of
the world, both of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

* Ralfs on British Desmidiece. London, 1848. Tliirty-five co-
loured plates.

ISTHMIA OBLIQ0ATA,

172

FEED ON FLINT.

Many other species accompany it in our own and other
seas. The Licmophora, or Fan-bearer, which we also
figure, is one of the most beautiful of our native kinds?
and is very common in April and May on the leaves
of Zostera, as well as on many of the smaller Algae.
It is very generally distributed round the British
coasts, forming gelatinous masses of a clear brown colour
on the plants it frequents. Under the microscope,

however, its colours are
much more gay, a yellow
shade, variously banded
and marked with deeper
coloured spots, tinging
the fan-like leaves, which
are borne on slender
threads transparent as
glass. The pieces or
joints of which these-
plants are composed, are
called frustules; and each
frustule consists of a
single cell, whose coat is
composed of a very deli-
cate membrane made of

LICMOPHOHA FLABEIiLATA.

organized silex. That
these plants have thus the power of withdrawing silex,
or flint earth, in some manner from the waters of the
sea, and fixing it in their tissues is certain, but the
exact method in which this is effected has not been
ascertained. A remarkable point in their history re-
sults from this power of feeding on fiint. It is this :

" MANY A LITTLE, MAKES A MICKLE." 173

their bodies are indestructible. Thus, their constantly
accumulating remains are gradually deposited in strata,
under the waters of the sea as well as in lakes and ponds.
At first the effect produced by things so small — thou-
sands of which might be contained in a drop, and mil-
lions packed together in a cubic inch, may appear of
trifling moment, when speaking of so grand an operation
as the deposition of submarine strata. But as each mo-
ment has its value in the measurement of time, to what-
ever extent of ages the succession may be prolonged, so
each of these atoms has a definite relation to space, and
their constant production and deposition will at length
result in mountains. The examination of the most an-
cient of the stratified rocks, and of all others in the as-
cending scale, and the investigation of deposits now in
course of formation, teach us that from the first dawn of
animated nature up to the present hour this prolific fa-
mily has never ceased its activity. England may boast
that the sun never sets upon her empire, but here is an
ocean realm whose subjects are literally more numerous
than the sands of the sea. We cannot count them by
millions simply, but by hundreds of thousands of mil-
lions. Indeed it is futile to speak of numbers in rela-
tion to things so uncountable. Extensive rocky strata,
chains of hills, beds of marl, almost every description of
soil, whether superficial or raised from a great depth,
contain the remains of these little plants in greater or
less abundance. Some great tracts of country are literally
built up of their skeletons. No country is destitute of
such monuments, and in some they constitute the leading
features in the structure of the soil. The world is a vast

174 VICTORIA BARRIER.

catacomb of Biatomacece; nor is the growth of those
old dwellers ou our earth diminished in its latter days.

These earliest inhabitants of the world seem destined
to outlive beings of larger growth, whose race has a
definite limit, both ends of its existence comprised
far within the duration of a species of Diatomacece.
Many of the existing species are found in a fossil state,
even in early beds. No part of our modern seas is with-
out this ever- springing vegetation. Of this fact the late
Antarctic Expedition* afibrded many striking proofs.
One of the objects of that expedition was to obtain
soundings of the deep sea ; and these were made at
depths which would have engulfed Chimborazo in the
abyss : yet the lead constantly brought up Diatomacece,
even if nothing else. Nor did the eternal winter of the
Antarctic Sea diminish the number of these vegetables.
Other sea-plants ceased at Cockburn Island, in the low
latitude of 64" S. ; and thenceforward the Diatomacece
formed the whole vegetation. The icy wall, called Vic-
toria Barrier, which at length stopped the southward
progress of the intrepid navigators, was found em-
browned with them. Floating masses of ice, when
melted, yielded them in millions. In many places they
formed a scum on the surface of the icy sea. But per-
haps the most remarkable fact observed, is the result of
soundings continued for four hundred miles along the
Victoria Barrier, where the existence of a bank, of un-
known thickness, but at least of the extent of surface
stated, was found composed almost wholly of skeletons
of these microscopic vegetables. Nothing else came

* See Hooker's " Flora Antractica," vol. ii.

UBIQUITY OF DIATOM ACE^. 175

up with the lead. Here, then, was a submarine deposit
in process of formation equalling in extent any similar
deposit of the earlier world. Such strata are doubtless
in course of accumulation in most parts of the ocean,
and may be observed on our own shores ; but this Ant-
arctic bank is the grandest example of the kind which
has been carefully investigated by an able naturalist.
But it is not only the sea and the land which yield the
relics of these plants ; the Diatomacece perform long
journeys through the air ! This remarkable fact rests
on the authority of the accurate Darwin, who collected
at sea small dust, which fell from the atmosphere on
the planks and rigging of the ship, which dust, when
examined with the microscope, was found composed of
Biatomaceoe. These were on their flight from America
to Africa. From their silicious nature they resist even
the strong heat of volcanoes, and their remains are
found thrown up in the pumice and dust from the
crater. In fact, it is difficult to name a nook on the
face of the earth, or in the depths of the sea, where they
are wholly absent, either in a dead or living state ; and
their office in the general economy, besides affording
food for the humbler members of the animal kingdom,
seems to be the preparation of a soil for a higher class
of vegetables. This they effect by the minute division
of the silicious particles laid up in their tissues, and
probably make this nearly insoluble earth more fit for
assimilation by other plants. We must also suppose
them endowed, like other vegetables, with the power of
decomposing carbonic acid and liberating oxygen ; and
thus, in their countless myriads, exercising no mean

176 THEIR VEGETABLE NATURE ESTABLISHED.

place in the household of Nature. Like their mistress,
these, her humblest servants, work in secret. We know
not what we owe them. But continued, as their exist-
ence is, through all time, and dispersed, as they are,
through every part of the world — even where the ice-
bound sea is peopled by nothing else — we may rest as-
sured that they do perform some work which renders
them worthy the care of a Providence who creates
nothing superfluous. I have spoken of the DiatomacecB
as vegetables, Ehrenberg and many other writers re-
gard them as infusorial animals ; and indeed they have
been bandied about from the animal to the vegetable
kingdom at various times, according to the views of
different naturalists. Latterly the evidence seems to
have preponderated on the vegetable side, especially
since the brilliant discoveries of Mr. Thwaites,* com-
municated to a late meeting of the British Association,
have shown that their fructification is precisely analo-
gous to that of some of the lower Algee, and that the
fruit resembles a spore.

A similar mode of fruiting is now discovered among
Desmidiece, which were also classed with Infusoria by
Ehrenberg, and of these a large number, in fruit, are
figured in the work of Mr. Ralfs, before alluded to ; but
as they are natives of fresh water, it is out of place to
enter on their history here. I may, however, remark, that
the curious spiny bodies found fossilized in flint, which
often pass for Xanthidia, are now proved to be only the
spores of various genera of Desmidiece, whose full-grown
fronds are amazingly unlike the spore in form. The

* See Thw., in « An. Nat. Hist.," N. S. vol. i. p. 162, &c.

THEIR FRtrCTIFICATION AND MOVEMENT. 177

mode of forming fruit in both tliese families, JDesmidiece
and Diatomaceoe, which is also the mode among un-
doubted Algae, is bj the coupling together of two cells
or frustules, when a passage is gradually formed between
them, through which the contents of one cell are dis-
charged into the other, where a dense mass of granular
matter collects, which at length solidifies into a spore
and bursts through the walls of the cell. As such a
process of reproduction is more analogous to what takes
place in the vegetable than in the animal kingdom,
naturalists seem now generally agreed to class them
with vegetables. The advocates for their animal nature
appeal to certain motions, having the character of
voluntary motion, observed in many species. Thus
Bacillaria paradoxa alternately propels its frustules
forward and draws them back, opening out the filament
of which the compound body consists into a straight
line, and contracting it again into a narrow compass.
This little plant resembles a pack of narrow cards, joined
together at one of the angles of their smaller end : when
extended they are ranged in a straight line, and when
contracted they are folded back on each other and lie as
if in a pack. It is highly curious to watch the regular
manner in which this motion is continued. Some of
the other species have movements of a similar character,
but many have not been observed in motion : and such
motions as are seen, more resemble the regulated move-
ment of a machine than the voluntary changes of place
which animals exhibit. No doubt it is difiicult, perhaps
impossible, to draw a rigid line between the irritability
of a vegetable and the muscular and nervous contractions

N

178 THE RED SEA COLOURED

of an animal, when we come to investigate such minute
organisms as those we are now considering ; but it is,
at least, certain that mere motion, such as has been
observed in the Diatomacece, is no proof of animality.
And as the other points in their history ally them to
the vegetable kingdom, the fact of their vegetability,
if not quite proved (as I believe it to be), is, at least
extremely probable. I cannot enter in this place into
the classification of these singular plants. The best
account of the British species is to be found in several
papers communicated by Mr. Ealfs to the Botanical
Society of Edinburgh, and published in the " Annals of
Natural History," in which figures of many species are
given. Figures of a few others have appeared in
" English Botany," and in " Grev. Crypt. Scot. ;" but
a general history of the group remains a desideratum,
which, it is to be hoped, Mr. Ralfs or Mr. Thwaites —
perhaps the only persons in Britain capable of doing
full justice to the subject — will favour us with. Both
genera and species are extremely numerous, and, no
doubt, great numbers await, in our waters, the eye of
the naturalist, ready to reward him for his pains with
a rich harvest of novelty and beauty.

Before dismissing the subject of microscopic vege-
tables, I may remark that the colouring of the waters
of the Bed Sea is now generally supposed to be caused
by the presence of countless multitudes of a minute .
Alga, which is perfectly invisible to the naked eye,
except when great numbers are congregated together.
Some writers have denied that the water of the Red
Sea has any peculiar colour, or that its name is owing

BY A MICROSCOPIC ALGA. 179

to the colour of its waters. Others, on the contrary,
describe a red shade, of a very singular character, as
present, and various explanations of the phenomena
have been given. The differences among travellers in
their account of this sea may be reconciled by suppos-
ing their observations to have been made at different
seasons of the year ; for if the colour of the water
depends on the presence of vegetable matter, it is highly
probable that it will vary in degree at different seasons.
That its waters are occasionally coated with a scum of
a red colour is certain ; and portions of it have been
brought home and carefully examined by several natu-
ralists, M. Montagne has given an elaborate account of
specimens which he had received, and has proved that
the scum is entirely made up of a very minute Alga,
which consists of delicate threads, collected in bundles,
and contains rings of a red matter, within a slender
tube. This little plant has a structure very similar to
the Oscillatorice, which form green scums on stagnant
pools ; or perhaps it more nearly resembles the pretty
little fresh-water Alga, called (by the somewhat jaw-
breaking name of) Aj)hanizome7ion. Minute Algae of
this description are by no means confined to the waters
of the Red Sea, but are met with in many parts of the
ocean, sometimes extending in broad bands for hundreds
of miles. Mr. Darwin, in his interesting voyage, gives
an account of several extraordinary bands of this de-
scription which he met with in the Pacific Ocean. I
have had the advantage of inspecting some of the
specimens brought home by this naturalist. They are
very similar to the species of the Red Sea.

180

DRIFTED SHELLY SAND.

Along the margin of the tide, as well as at different
levels of the sandy beach, and in the crevices of rock-
pools, may frequently be seen small patches of drifted
sand and shells, the examination of which will often
aiFord the patient explorer a rich treat. Broken shells
and fragments of Zoophytes may compose a considerable
portion of the drift, but a careful examination with a lens
will generally detect a multitude of minute shells, some
of them of very strange shapes, and others, structures of

great elegance. The
most singular of these
minute shells are the
debris of a curious
tribe of animals, of low
organization, called
Foraminifera, all the
species of which are
of microscopic size.
One genus of this
tribe, called Lagena,
has a shell resembling
either a modern flask,
or an ancient amphora
or bottle, so perfectly
''■'°''''^- that one might sup-

pose the artist had taken the minute shell for his model.
There are several species and varieties found in drift-
sand, and most of these exist in a semi-fossilized state
in the sands of ancient beaches. A monograph of the
British species has been given by Mr. W. C. Williamson,*

* "Annals of Nat. Hist.," 2nd Series, vol. i. (1848) p. 1, &c.

FORAMINIFERA. 181

from whose beautiful figures our cut has been copied.
Mr. Williamson reduces the British species to eight, and
disposes them under two groups, Lagena proper, distin-
guished by having the oral extremity of the flask produced
into an external tubular neck ; and Entosolenia, charac-
terised by an internal tube, rising from the upper ex-
tremity of the shell, and prolonged downwards into its
cavity; as if the neck, instead of being prolonged from the
body, were introverted. Four species of each genus are
described. The shells
of othexForaminifera
are of a more complex
structure, consisting
of a number of dis-
tinct chambers, ar-
ranged one after an-

other, like those of a kotaiia beccai-.u and poltsiohella ckispa.
Nautilus, communicating with each other by pores, and
variously disposed, either in a spiral order or in sti'aight
or curved lines. There are many species, placed in
several genera, found on the British coasts. Two of the
commonest species are represented in our figure. Both
may be found in a dead state in the fine shelly drift-sand,
and living specimens may often be seen attached to the
stems of various small Algse. Such structures as these
curiously imitate the chambered shells of the Nautili,
and still more strikingly resemble, in miniature, the
fossil remains of an earlier world. Their resemblance to
the Ammonites, in particular, caused them, at one time,
to be referred to a similar class of beings ; and their
minute size was reararded as characteristic of a worn-out

182 RELATED TO POLYPES.

type, consequent on an altered condition in the tempera-
ture and constituents of the sea. But an investigation
of the animals of such species as have been found in a
living state, has led to a great degradation in their
position ; and instead of being placed at the top of the
class Mollusca, we now find them occupying a very
humble station among Polypes. According to Dujardin,
who has well examined into their history, the animal,
in the Foraminifera, is absolutely deprived of distinct
organs of locomotion, and even of respiration, being
composed of a succession of joints or lobes, which go on
increasing successively, and enveloping each other. It
is coated by a shell, variously formed in different genera,
but having a common character in being pierced with
innumerable minute holes or pores, by which the con-
tained fleshy parts keep up a connexion with the water.
The only time when the soft parts of the animal are
visible externally, is when a new joint is produced which
has not completed the formation of its shelly chamber.
On breaking the shell, the composition of the soft parts
of the animal is found to be as simple and of as low
organization as in the Hydra, or any other of the less
complex Polypes ; and if the shelly parts be dissolved in
a mixture of alcohol and weak nitric acid, the body
may be extracted entire, and will be found to consist of
a series of articulations, filling up the several chambers
of the shell. The various genera of Foraminifera are
not characteristic of the modern ocean merely, but
existed in former periods, and are found in geological
deposits of various ages. Nor do they seem to have
degenerated in size, the species of early date being no

SMALL SHELLS. 183

bigger than those now existing. Their resemblance to
Nautili and Ammonites is merely one of analogy.

Drift-sand should also be closely examined for shells
of the more minute Gasteropodous Mollusca. A wonder-
ful variety of minute spiral univalve shells is found on
our shores ; though they are scarcely of so small a size
as to come within the list of genuine microscopic objects.
A simple pocket lens is sufficient to ascertain the charac-
ters of most. The different kinds of Bissoa, formerly
included in the multifarious genus Ticrho, are elegant
little shells, whose spiral coils are variously sculptured
or ribbed, sometimes in a very elaborate manner. Mr.
Alder* has figured and described a considerable number
of these small shells, many of them collected from drift-
sand. Others may be obtained by the gatherers of sea-
weeds with little trouble, if they will only preserve the
sediment that collects in the water in which their sea-
weeds are washed. The Eissoce are vegetable-feeders,
and live among the branches of the smaller sea-weeds,
which are sometimes found as thickly covered with
them as bushes are with snails. When the sea-weeds
are plunged into fresh-water, the Rissooe are quickly
killed and fall to the bottom, and may then be secured
by simply straining the water through a piece of canvas.
Many other minute and curious animals, and sometimes
Diatomacese, may be collected in a similar way.

Among the animated wonders of the sea, though not
all of microscopic size, few tribes are more singular in
structure and in their history, or more beautiful in their
varied forms, than the Acaleplioe, or Jelly-fishes, to whose

* "Annals Nat. Hist.," 1st Series.

184 JELLY-FISHES.

phosphorescence the luminosity of the sea is chiefly
attributable. Many of these creatures are of strictly mi-
croscopic size, and so transparent that they can scarcely
be seen in the water in which they swim, except when
revealed by the motion of their cilia or the flashes of
light which they send forth in the dark ; others are of
comparatively large size, and some are even three or four
feet in length. The sea in all climates produces these
simple creatures, and sometimes swarms with them in
countless multitudes. Even on our own coasts I have
seen the shore rendered ofi"ensive for miles in extent by
the stranding of shoals of minute Meclusce, each of which
individually was scarcely bigger than a pea. But it is
in tropical latitudes, and through the scarcely fathom-
able waters of the deep sea, that animals of this class
display the greatest variety of form, and multiply in the
greatest profusion. Here, too, the luminous species are
of the largest size, and most brilliantly phosphorescent.
Coleridge's description in the " Ancient Mariner " may
convey some notion of their singular beauty : —

" Beyond the shadow of the ship
I watched the water snakes :
They moved in tracks of shining white,
And when they reared, the elfish light
Fell off in hoar}'' flakes.

" Within the shadow of the ship
I watched their rich attire :
Blue, glossj^-green, and velvet black
They coiled and swam ; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire."

But it is difficult, in the most glowing description to
convey an idea of the extraordinary effects produced by

PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA, 185

the presence of such countless luminous points scattered
through the waters of the ocean. Sometimes the whole
surface, far as the eye can stretch, seems one sheet of
phosphorescent sheen ; while looking down into the
water close to the ship large globes of fire are seen
slowly moving along at various depths. The wake of
the vessel, at the same time, displays the most vivid and
varied scintillations, and the spray that breaks on her
prow falls off like a shower of many-coloured sparks.
One scarcely knows on which part of this wonderful dis-
play of fireworks to fix the attention. One after another
attracts our gaze, and in its turn appears most beautiful.
The phosphorescence is not constant ; it is most vivid
when the water is disturbed. Thus the passing of the
vessel causes an illumination, long continued in the
wake she leaves behind : while a sudden breeze sweeping
over the surface will send a stream of light far across
the sea, strikingly similar to the dartings of the aurora
through the realms of air. Such are some of the glories
that the tropical ocean presents to us ; similar, but less
brilliant illuminations are witnessed on our coasts, espe-
cially in warm evenings towards the close of summer, at
which season vast multitudes of small Medusoe frequently
swim along the shore, entering into creeks and bays, and
sometimes literally converting the shallower inlets into
strata of living jelly. At ordinary times many beautiful
kinds may be collected by dragging a small gauze net
after the boat, just below the surface of the water. In
calm weather these little creatures rise to the upper strata
of water, and sink again when the sea is troubled.

In structure, the Acalephce or Jelly-fishes are exceed-

186 STRUCTUEE OF MEDUSA.

inglj simple, but not the less wonderful on that account.
Our wonder is, indeed, the more excited when we find
creatures of large size, as many of the 3/edusce are,
and endowed with considerable powers of perception
and some strength and agility, formed of a few delicate
tissues filled with a fluid, to all appearance, not very
different from sea-water. It is as if we had to investigate
the structure of submarine bubbles. Take one of the
largest of the race, weighing many pounds while living,
and dry it. The whole contents of the body will either
leak away or evaporate, and nothing will be left but
some small shreds of membranous skin, forming a glis-
tering stain on the surface of whatever object the Jelly-
fish was placed upon. The flesh is entirely composed of
large cells of delicate structure, filled; with a transparent
fluid. But these cells are put together with the most
rigid accuracy, and their arrangement is so varied that
naturalists have had to distinguish numerous families
and genera of Jelly-fishes. The number four prevails
through the whole class. All the parts of the body are
divisible by four, and mostly ranged in a radiate manner
round a centre, so that either the animal is cruciform,
or its internal parts are so arranged. But this form,
though very general, is not universal : — some resemble
long ribbons ; others are oval or irregularly curved.

The Jelly-fishes have been classed according to dif-
ferences in their locomotive organs. Our most common
species, referable to the Linnsean genus Medusa (but
now comprising several distinct genera, according to
the views of modern naturalists), are distinguished by
an umbrella-shaped body, generally pellucid, from the

THE PULMONIGRADB ORDER. 187

centre of which on the concave side depends a cluster of
variously fringed and lobed vessels, which constitute the
digestive system of the animal, while numerous slender
fibres or tentacula hang from the border of the umbrella-
shaped disc. Such a creature resembles an animated
mushroom, with its gills and stalk. Sometimes the
stalk is reduced to a minute point, and there are very
many modifications. The motion in all Jelly-fishes of
this shape is accomplished by alternate contractions and
expansions of the umbrella, repeated at regular inter-
vals, something like the movement of the lungs in re-
spiration, in allusion to which resemblance this order of
Jelly-fishes has been called Ptdmonigrade. The convex
end of the umbrella is directed forwards, the fimbriated
vessels and tentacula stream behind, and the creature is
propelled with a steady and graceful motion, very rapid
in some species. Unsightly and repulsive as the Jelly-
fish looks when stranded and lying exposed among
sea-wrack on shore, it is a most beautiful animal when
expanded in its native element and moving along in
freedom. Nor is it so defenceless as its low organization
and the softness of its parts may lead us to suppose.
Many of the species are capable of inflicting a sharp
and painful sting, sufiiciently strong to paralyse the
animals on which they prey, or perhaps to ward off
danger when attacked by superior foes ; while the long
tentacles with which most of them are furnished are
admirably adapted for seizing prey, as they adhere to
whatever comes within their reach. A complete work
on British Medusce is still a desideratum, but the task
has been commenced by Professor Edw. Forbes, whose

188 THE CILIOGKADE ORDER.

beautifully illustrated history of the Naked-eyed Me-
dusce is a model for future observers.

The Jelly-fishes of another order called Ciliograde,
move from place to place by means of innumerable
vibratile hair-like organs, called cilia, variously disposed
on the surface of their body. The common Beroe of our
shores offers a charming example of this sort of motion.
This little creature is met with in summer on most
parts of the coast, swimming near the surface, and may
readily be taken in a gauze drag-net. It has a melon-
shaped body, from half an inch to nearly an inch in
length, clear as crystal, and divided as it were into
gores by eight longitudinal equidistant bands or ribs.
These ribs when minutely examined are found clothed
with innumerable flat plates, resembling the paddles of
a water-wheel, placed one above another, and acting
under the control of the will of the animal. When the
Beroe wishes to move, these paddles are set in motion,
and by their united action on the water propel the living
globe of crystal with a swift and easy motion, forwards
or backwards as it wills ; and when it wishes to turn, it
merely stops the movement of its paddles on one side.
The cilia, in sunlight, reflect brilliant prismatic colours,
and in darkness flash with a beautiful blue light. De-
licate as are its organs of motion, the fishing apparatus
of the Beroe is not less elegant. This consists of two
long and exceedingly slender tentacula, five or six inches
in length when fully extended, but capable of being
wholly withdrawn within the body of the creature,
where they are lodged in tubular sheaths. To the long
filament is attached, at regular distances, a multitude of

THE PHrSOGRADE ORDER,

189

shorter and much more slender fibres, which are coiled
up in spirals when the
main filament contracts,
and gradually spread out
as it lengthens. These
are very similar to the
small hiooked threads at-
tached at intervals along
a fishing-line. The Beroe
may be kept alive for
some time in a large
vessel of sea-water, but
it soon languishes, and
melts away to nothing.

A third order of Jelly-
fishes is called Physo-
grade. In these tlie
body is buoyed up by a
sort of bladder, which the
creature is said to have
the power of inflating at
will, so as to be able to
rise or sink at its plea-
sure. The best known
of this group is the Phy-
salia, or Portuguese man-
of-war, common in the
seas of warm countries,
but very rarely captured
on the British coasts. Oc- beros.

casionally it is met with on the southern shores of

190 THE CIRRHIGRADE ORDER.

England and Ireland. It is, notwithstanding a some-
wliat grotesque form^ a most lovely animal. The floating
bladder is nearly egg-shaped, with a sort of snout at
one end, and a pointed tail at the other, and crested
with a crenate ridge of fine purple. The surface is
glassy, and reflects all the colours of the rainbow. From
the lower side of this singular organ depend a great
number of tubular filaments, of various lengths and
shapes ; some of them cylindrical, others wavy and
tapering to a point, and others resembling fine threads
of chenile spirally convoluted ; the whole, too, is gay
with brilliant changeable tints of green, blue, and gold.
These are the organs of prehension, absorption, and di-
gestion, in fact of all the animal powers bestowed on the
creature, and they are sufiered to play freely in the
nourishing element. Beautiful as the Physalia is, it is
merely a system of entrails floating with the waves.

The Cirrhigrade Jelly-fishes present us with rather a
higher type of structure. In these we have something
like a skeleton, surrounded by the soft substance of the
body. The Velella, which sails on the surface of the
sea, and is brought in such numbers to our western and
southern shores in the summer and autumn, furnishes
an example of this order. It has an oblong- flat tish
body, between membranous and fleshy, transparent, but
clouded with thickly-set dots of dark-blue, and contain-
ing within its substance a rectangular, boat-shaped,
membranous skeleton, concentrically striate, and fur-
nished with a vertical plate, placed diagonally, transpa-
rent, and of a horny membranous texture. The internal
skeleton is of an exceedingly light and spongy nature,

THE VELELLA. 191

filled with air-cells and sufficiently buoyant to keep the
animal on a level with the surface of the water ; and
the vertical plate, rising into the air, acts like a sail, by

which the creature is driven rapidly along. From the
lower surface of the body hang down numerous long,
dark-blue, tentacular appeadages, or cirrhi, disposed in
several rows, by the motion of which the animal can
change its direction, or move along when there is not
wind enough to catch its tiny sail. It is a fearless
navigator, boldly venturing,

" Like little wanton boys, that swim on bladders,"

across the widest and deepest ocean. Perhaps none
of the Jelly-fishes have a more extended geographical
range. Their centre appears to be in the warmer parts
of the ocean, and they are sent northwards and south-
wards into high latitudes of either hemisphere by the
force of the great oceanic currents. On the west coast
of Ireland, especially towards the close of the summer,
vast numbers of Velellce are driven on shore, entangled

192 REPRODUCTION OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS.

in floating sea- weed, and very frequently accompanied
by the beautiful lantMna, or " Blue Snail-sbell," a
singular Mollusc that equally " swims on bladders."
In the Velella of our shores the sail is immoveable^
and the vessel is therefore much at the mercy of the
winds, but there is an exotic species which is said to
have the power, by the contraction of muscular bands,
to lower its sail at pleasure.

Many circumstances in the history of the Acaleph^
are calculated to excite curiosity or admiration, but,
perhaps, there is no fact connected with them more
wonderful than the mode of their reproduction from
gemmce or buds. It is a character of the vegetable
kingdom, that its organisms propagate themselves in
two ways : one by seeds, formed by special organs
called flowers ; the other by gemmae or buds, which
may be developed from any part of the cellular sub-
stance of the plant. Both modes of reproduction
effect a similar object, — the continuance of the species :
— but it is observable that individual characters are
more strictly perpetuated when plants are multiplied
by buds than when they are grown from seeds ; hence,
one mode of growth is said to be a multiplication of
the individual plant, the other, a propagation of the
species through new individuals. In the higher classes
of animals propagation by gemmae does not occur : the
young are brought forth either in a fully-formed state, or
in eggs, from which they will in time be hatched. As
we descend lower in the series we find the process con-
siderably varied, and become familiarized with certain
transformations through which the young creature passes

METAMOKPHOSES. 1 93

before it acquires its full complement of limbs. Even
before we take leave of the Vertebrates, there are extra-
ordinary examples of such transformations. Thus in
the race of Frogs : the young, or tadpole, is deficient in
limbs, swims like a fish, and breathes through gills ;
while the full-grown animal is, as every one knows, fur-
nished with nimble and well-formed legs, and breathes
through lungs. One can scarcely conceive a greater
change in organization than is here displayed before
our eyes. It strikes us as wonderful, because the young
of other Vertebrates exhibit no such change after birth ;
and yet it would appear, from the researches of anato-
mists, that before birth the foetus of all, not excepting
that of man himself, undergoes changes of an analogous
nature. So that here, as everywhere. Nature vindicates
her uniformity. All of the vertebrate class are destined
to go through a certain round of changes, but in some
a portion of these changes take place before birth, in
others after it.

Leaving the Vertebrates, in which transformation of
the young after birth is the exception, we reach the
Articulate or Insect races, in which it becomes the rule.
All are familiar with the quadruple state under which
insect-life appears, — the egg, the grub or caterpillar,
the chrysalis, and the perfectly-formed insect. In these,
as in the Frog, we find the young animal fitted for a
condition of life totally different from that to which
its mature state is destined ; and, in many cases, the
difference in its breathing apparatus is equally great.
The young of many insects, as of the Dragon-flies and
Gnats, live under water until their last change, when,

0

194 GROWTH OF THE

rising to the surface, they cast aside their skin, with its
gills and fins, and thenceforward breathe the air through
Avhich they fly. Similar changes we have already noticed
in the Crustacea, and such we may have to speak of in
other classes of animals, but these are not of the same
nature as what we have now to describe as taking place
in the AcALEPHiE, or Jelly-fishes. The insect deposits
an egg, and each egg will, in due time, produce an in-
sect similar to its parent, and nothing more. But the
Jelly-fish throws off organized bodies, which can scarcely
be called eggs, but which may more justly be compared
to the gemmcB or buds of a plant ; for, from every one
of them may spring a whole colony of Jelly-fishes, The
extraordinary history of these creatures was first ascer-
tained by M. Sars, a celebrated Swedish Naturalist. The
English reader may find a more detailed account than is
here given in Steenstrup's "Alternation of Generations,"
published by the Ray Society, and in a very interesting
memoir by Dr. Reid in Taylor's " Annals." *

Without adopting all the theoretical inferences de-
duced from the "alternation of generations," we may
state the facts as follows. The Medusa gives birth to
a multitude of minute gelatinous bodies, in shape not
very unlike the so-called eggs of a sponge, or the spores
of one of the lower Algae, and, like them, furnished
with a multitude of cilia, or vibratile hairs, which
clothe the surface, and by their motion propel the little
body through the water. These active little bodies
must, I think, be looked upon as gemmse or buds, rather

* " An. Nat. Hist." (1848), p. 25, &c. See also Forbes's « Mono-
graph of the British Naked Eyed Medusae, Ray Society," 1848.

MEDUSA FROM BUDS.

195

than as young Medusae, properly so called. When
emitted, the bud is of an oval shape, broader at one
end ; and it constantly keeps its broader end in ad-
vance when moving. Internally they present a cavity.
They are at this stage bags of living jelly, clothed with
vibratile hairs. After a while the hud attaches itself
by its larger extremity, or apparent front, to any con-
venient object, — as a stone or the stalk of one of the
larger sea-weeds, — and this extremity henceforward be-
comes the base on which all its future operations are
conducted. When it

has become fixed by ^^1 ^^^ ^^^,M\
this base an alteration
of form quickly com-
mences. The body
lengthens, and be-
comes wider upwards;
and, at its upper ex-

MEDUS^-BUDS IN" VA.RTOTjS

tremity, is formed a
mouth, which at first, is of small size and naked, but
gradually becomes larger and surrounded by four promi-
nences. These prominences soon increase in length, and
change into long slender tentacula or feelers. After a few
days new tentacula make their appearance between the
old ones, and these organs, developed successively, one set
after the other, are gradually increased to the number of
twenty-eight or thirty. We have now the appearance of
an animal resembling one of the more simple Polypes,
such as the Hydra, — a bell-shaped, gelatinous, bag-like
body, fixed to a stalk, highly contractile in every part,
and furnished with a mouth surrounded by tentacula.

196 PROLIFEROUS INCREASE OF BUDS.

At this stage, if we omit the stalk, there is no very
remarkable dissimilarity to the parent Medusa. Like
it, this has a capacious stomach, with strong powers
of digestion and a voracious appetite. But the little
creature soon exhibits characters which in the animal
kingdom can be compared only to the growth of the
compound Polypes, and which closely resemble the de-
velopement of plants from buds, or of the lower classes
of cryptogamic plants from their spores. The lower
part of the Medusa-bud throws out branches, or stolons,
and these form new buds ; or, buds may rise from any
parts of the surface of the parent one, though it is more
usual for them to spring from the lower part. When
the powers of life are active, several of these secondary
buds grow at the same time. They make their appear-
ance as prominences, and gradually increase in size. As
each enlarges, its apex pushes out, and curves down-
wards till it reaches an object to which it can attach
itself. The apex having thus attached itself blscomes
the base, and the former base by which the bud was
connected with the parent-bud separates, and is changed
into the apex, in which a mouth, gradually surrounded
with tentacula, is formed. And thus from a single
bud a multitude of new buds, each endowed with simi-
larly prolific powers, are developed. Nor does there
seem any fixed period at which this system of growth
by budding necessarily ceases. Dr. Reid kept some
" colonies " of these buds for upwards of seventeen
months before any material change in habit was observed
to take place. During all this time stolons and buds
continued to be formed and to die, but still the colony

FORMATION OF MEDUSA FROM THEM. 197

increased in numbers. It is probable, however, tbat
the long continuance in the state of buds was owing
to artificial confinement, and that in freedom the buds
regularly develope perfect Medusaa in their season.

The mode in which perfect Medusse arise from the
buds is not the least remarkable phase of this sin-
gular history. When a bud has reached a proper
size it becomes cylindrical, elongated, and much dimi-
nished in diameter. At this stage transverse wrinkles
begin to appear at regular intervals, commencing near
the top, and gradually extending downwards. As the
operation proceeds, the uppermost wrinkles become
deeper, dividing the body into ring-like segments. The
tentacula gradually waste away, and the uppermost
ring acquires a border formed of eight equidistant lobes
or rays. This process goes on :
ring after ring is bordered with
rays, and these rings begin
gradually to separate at the
edges, till the upper portion of
the cylinder resembles a num-
ber of shallow cups, piled one
in another. As the furrows be-
tween them become deeper, the
rings acquire greater powers
of mobility, and at length an
independent life is developed in each. The uppermost
segment falls off, and immediately assumes the swim-
ming habits of a young Medusa, but is only gradually
moulded to its perfect form. The next segment fol-
lows:— and thus the cylinder continues to form and to

■MEDtrB.E PORMINQ.

198 GROWTH OF POLYPES SIMILAR.

throw offj one after another, the little creatures destined
henceforth to act according to their " own sweet will,"
and in their proper season to produce new germs or
buds, from which other young Medusas shall arise.
During this process of throwing off young Medusae in
the upper part of the column, its lower part continues
to grow, and to become ringed as it grows ; and Dr.
Reid counted on a single column thirty or forty rings
thus in process of conversion at the same time. Nor
is this all : the same accurate observer assures us, that
in no case does the formation of rings continue to the
base of the column ; but that after a time the ringing
process ceases ; the stump which remains throws out
tentacula from its apex, and continues to live as a
bud, ready, it would appear, either to form new stolons,
or buds, or to resume the functions of a parent, and
throw off a new batch of young ones. The whole is
so similar to what takes place in the vegetable king-
dom, where a season of rest follows the season of blos-
soms, that we are tempted to suppose a somewhat closer
connexion than one of mere analogy between the two
operations. Among animals the facts now stated are
by no means isolated. A very similar mode of growth
and propagation is found among the compound Polypes,
whose gemmules, like those of the Meduste, are at first
free, and moved by cilia ; afterwards attached, and
budding forth with a plant-like body. And, omitting
differences of organization, the great difference which
strikes us in the process is, that in the Polype the fuUy
developed animal continues throughout its life attached
to the trunk, or 2yolypidom ; while in the Medusae the

HISTORY OF THE SALPiE.

199

young becomes detached at an early age, and continues
to increase in bulk, and reaches maturity by its un-
assisted powers.

Perhaps a more extraordinary instance of " alterna-
tion of generation," and one in which the idea con-
veyed in that term seems to be most fully brought out,
occurs in the genus Scdpa, one of the Ascidians. In a
former chapter I noticed
some of the more com-
mon forms of this family,
some of which, it will be
remembered, are simple
animals ; others com-
pound, or living in
indissoluble association,
organically connected one
with another. Now the
Salpa is a genus of this
family which, in alternate
generations, exhibits the
character of a simple or of a compound Ascidian. That
is to say, a compound Salpa produces simple young,
and a simple Salpa compound young. The nature of
this change will be more evident when I have described
the appearance of the animal in both phases of exist-
ence. The Salj^cE are at all times free, swimming from
place to place, and generally in flocks, through the
waters of the ocean. Each animal resembles a tube;
clear as crystal, through whose walls the coloured inter-
nal parts may be distinctly seen. Sometimes these
animals are found solitary ; at other times linked

SALPA RUNCINATA, IN ITS FR
ASSOCIATED STATES.

200 SOLITARY AND CHAINED SALP^.

together in long chains, composed of many similar
individuals. These chains glide through the waters
with a regular serpentine movement, as if a common
will influenced them ; and yet every animal of the
chain is a distinct individual, and capable of a separate
existence, if the rules of the brotherhood be dissolved.
While swimming in the water, the chain appears like a
single animal ; but when taken up it falls to pieces, and
the animals of which it is composed have no further
power to unite : yet they can continue to exist. But
this is not the wonderful part of their history. The
strange fact connected with them is this, that the ani-
mals chained together only represent one phase of Salpa
life. There are other individuals, of the same species,
but of a very different form, which have never been
united in chains, but have at all times lived solitary.
And still more strange, these solitary Salpce are the
young of SalpcB that have been chained ; and the pro-
geny of these solitary ones will be chained Salpce. Nay,
it has been ascertained to be an invariable fact that the
ovum of one of the chained Salpce produces a solitary
animal, while the ovum of a solitary Salpa produces a
chain. Or, as Chamisso, who first observed this pecu-
liarity, graphically says, "A ASaZpa-mother is not like
its daughter, or its own mother, but resembles its sister,
its grand-daughter, and its grand-mother." Our figure,
copied from Professor E. Forbes, represents both states
of the only recorded British species.

In Steenstrup's Memoir, already alluded to, the vari-
ous aspects of these alternate developements have been
ably discussed ; and the Author has, I think, clearly

HISTORY OF APHIDES, ETC. 201

established his position that even metamorphoses so
unexpected as these, are not at variance with the har-
mony of Nature, but are really instances and further
manifestations of that harmony. His object is to show
that, under some modification or other, they exist in all
classes of animals below the Vertebrates. The well-
known circumstances in the history of Aphides, and the
existence of numerous sexes of bees, wasps, and ants,
each having its assigned office, have been skilfully com-
pared with the facts we have just been discussing, and
an unexpected connexion established among them. It
is thus one department of Nature throws light upon
another, proving that to understand any part it is neces-
sary to be acquainted with more. And this considera-
tion ought to cure us of making rash assertions as to
what is or is not possible in a natural phenomenon.
When Chamisso first announced his discovery of the
propagation of Salyce, he was laughed at as a dreamer.
And now, not only is the fact, as described by Chamisso,
established in its minutest details, but it is shown to
be by no means isolated, and it receives support and
confirmation from the most unexpected quarters.

Now is it pleasant in the summer-eve,
When a broad shore retiring waters leave,
Awhile to wait upon the firm fair sand.
When all is calm at sea, all still at land ;
And there the ocean's produce to explore,
As floating by, or rolling on the shore ;
Those living jellies which the flesh inflame,
Fierce as a nettle, and from that their name ;
Some in huge masses, some that j-^ou may bring
In the small compass of a lady's ring ;

202 " TREASURES THE VULGAR IN THEIR SCORN REJECT."

Figured by Hand Divine — there 's not a gem
Wrought by man's art to be compared to them ;
Soft, brilliant, tender, through the wave they glow.
And make the moonbeam brighter where they flow,
Involved in sea-wrack, here you find a race,
Which science doubting, knows not where to place ;
On shell or stone is dropped the embryo seed.
And quickly vegetates a vital breed.

While thus with pleasing wonder you inspect
Treasures, the vulgar in their scorn reject,
See as thej- float along th' entangled weeds
Slowly approach, upborne on bladdery beads ;
Wait till they land, and you shall then behold
The fiery sparks those tangled fronds infold.
Myriads of living points ; the unaided eye
Can but the fire and not the form descry.
And now your view upon the ocean turn.
And there the splendour of the waves discern ;
Cast but a stone, or strike them with an oar.
And you shall flames within the deep explore ;
Or scoop the stream phosphoric as you stand,
And the cold flames shall flash along your hand ;
When, lost in wonder, you shall walk and gaze
On weeds that sparkle, and on waves that blaze.

Cradbe.

GAUNEXa. FUFflNS, CORMORANTS, ETC,

CHAPTER VII.

SEA-SIDE PLANTS, BIRDS, DRIFTWOOD, ETC.

Coast scenery is so varied in its character that it is
impossible to describe it, without localizing ; and our
plan prevents us from indicating anj place. Nothing
can be more dissimilar than the eastern and western
shores of the British Islands, — the one flat, sandy,
shingly, with few harbours, and a slightly indented
coastline ; the other rock-bound, with bluff headlands,
abounding in harbours, and deep bays which penetrate
far into the land, while all exposed places are lashed
by the heavy swells of the Atlantic. A person who has

204 WESTEBN SHORES.

seen the sea only on the east coast of England, can form
but a feeble conception of that —

glorious mirror, where the Almighty form

Glasses itself in tempests ; in all time

Calm or convulsed — in breeze, or gale, or storm,

Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime.

Dark heaving ; — ^boundless, endless, and sublime.

The general colour of the water, and the play of
light on the surface, are totally different on our eastern
and western coasts. The greater depth, near land, on
a rock-bound shore, and the different colour of the
bottom, cause the waters on the west coast to have a
deeper blue ; and the absence of sand and mud give
them greater clearness, so that it is not uncommon, in
gliding along in a boat, to see below us sea-weeds waving
and fishes swimming at a depth of many fathoms. But
it is not merely in colour that the western ocean sur-
passes the sea on our eastern coasts. The broad At-
lantic, free from impediment for a thousand leagues,
breasts high against the rocks, and even in summer
there is often a swell such as is seen only in the
storms of winter elsewhere. These grand swells, clear
as emerald, moving in with a slow and stately step,
break in thunder on the rocks, throwing up glorious
showers of spray : and this amid the sunshine of a
summer's noon, when there is no wind, or only suffi-
cient breeze from the land to throw back the top of the
wave in a feathery crest, while the great mass of M^ater,
with arching neck, breaks in an opposite direction.
Not that such occurs on every summer day : there are
times when the ocean takes its rest. But these great

MARITIME VEGETATION.

205

breakers are the relics of some storm whicli has roused
his strength a thousand miles away, and come to our
peaceful coasts, like the rejoicings after victory, to tell
of his power and majesty.

The aspect of the coast is thus indefinitely varied.
There are, however, cha-
racters, which a natural-
ist will at once detect,
common to most sea-
shores. The vegetation,
in general, has not the
luxuriance which an in-
land situation affords.
The trees are of smaller
size, of slower growth,
and apt to be bent
by the prevalent winds,
or their tops shorn by
the salt air. On many
coasts, trees will not grow
beyond the shelter of
walls or rocks, and forest-
trees dwindle into stunt-
ed shrubs. Then there are
numerous plants which
are peculiar to the sea-
shore, and which are
never found far from the
coast. I have already
mentioned the Sea-reed (Ammophila ariindinacea) which
flourishes among drifting sands, and binds together the

HORNED POPPT.

206 CRUCIFEROUS PLANTS.

mass witli its matted roots. Still nearer to the beach,
and even among the larger stones that border it, many
gay-flowered plants are seen scattered about. The
Yellow-horned Poppy [Glauciuin luteuvi) and the Eringo
{Eringiitni maritimum) are very characteristic of such
a locality. The Horned Poppy forms a large crown of
deeply-cut and very rough leaves, from which rise seve-
ral straggling stems that lie along the ground, bearing
here and there large yellow flowers, succeeded by horn-
like pods, several inches in length. The Eringo is more
erect, branching and bushy, and exceedingly rigid, with
blue-green cut leaves, spinous like those of holly, and
dense heads of small blue flowers. Several cruciferous
plants, with flowers having four petals, forming a cross,
and succeeded by long or short green pods, are peculiar
to the sea-coast. One of these is the Sea-kail, well known
in cultivation, but which may also be found on several
sandy shores. Another is the Wild Cabbage (Brassica
oleracea), supposed to be the origin of all the varieties
of garden cabbage and greens, including cauliflower and
brocoli in the list ; these latter being monstrous states
of the flowering branches. Wild Cabbage is particularly
abundant under Dover cliff's, and all along that chalky
shore ; and in severe springs the young sprouts, which
are earlier than those produced in gardens, are collected
and brought to market. Some parts of the cliffs look
precisely like cabbage-gardens. Another plant of this
family, the Sea-rocket {Cakile maritimci), with weak,
smooth stems and rather succulent, pinnatifid leaves and
purplish flowers, is common in sandy places. And two
species of Stock [Alatthiola incana and M. sinuata) are

PLANTS OF SALT-MARSHES. 207

among the rarer species, the former being, perhaps,
scarcely a genuine wild plant. Where the coast is
muddy, another genus of this family Cochlearia, or
Scurvy-grass, makes its appearance. Of this genus there
are five British species, one of which is the Horse-radish.
All cruciferous plants have anti-scorbutic qualities, and
perhaps there is not any unwholesome plant in the
order. Many are used for food, and all those that have
soft and fleshy leaves and succulent roots, like the Tur-
nip and Radish, are suitable for that purpose. The
species are widely dispersed through temperate climates,
but very rare in hot countries ; and they are eight times
more numerous in the northern than in the southern
hemisphere. Many are now dispersed, through the
agency of man, to every climate.

Salt-marshes near the coast have their peculiar vege-
tation. Coarse Sedges and Rushes grow in the wetter
places, mixed with patches of Aster, whose purple
flowers enliven the otherwise dreary and dismal scene.
Various smaller plants are scattered in drier places.
The Thrift or Sea-pink (^Armeria maritima), and the
different kinds of Sea-lavender {Statice) are peculiarly
gay, growing wherever the mud becomes hardened. The
former is not confined to such places, but often forms
extensive patches or continuous soft cushions along the
margin of the sea, and in May bears a profusion of its
pretty pink flowers, which continue opening for the two
following months. The Thrift is met with again on the
summits of mountains, at a distance from the sea ; but
is not commonly found in intermediate places, except
occasionally on the banks of large inland lakes. Some

208

PLANTS OF SALT-MARSHES.

others of the plants of salt-marshes have a similar fancy
for mountain air, particularly two kinds of Plantain
[Plantago maritima and P. coronopus) ; and the chief
diiFerence which climate makes upon them is, that the
leaves in the shore-grown plants are more succulent and

contain a greater quan-
tity of soda. One of the
most characteristic plants
of salt ground is the
jointed Glass-wort {Sali-
cornea lierhacea), a small
herb with fleshy stems,
divided into joints, with
minute flowers concealed
in the axils of the scale-
like leaves. This plant,
like Samphire, is some-
times gathered for pick-
ling ; but it is rather an
old-fashioned pickle, not
often seen, even in coun-
try places. In the south
of Europe, several others
of the genus grow in
great profusion, and are
largely collected and burned for the sake of the soda
contained in their ashes. The Salicornia belongs to the
same family as the common weed called Goose-foot
{Chenopodium) ; and others of its kind are natives of
the coast ; such as the various kinds of Orache [Atri-
plex), some of which are shrubby and not unornamental,

SALICORNEA HERB&CEA.

MARITIME PRIMULACE^.

209

and the Wild- beet (^Beta maritima), whose leaves may
be used as Spinach. The Spinach itself is one of the
same tribe, many of which are used as esculents in
various parts of the world. Some of them, such as the
Garden Beet, or Mangold Wurzel : and the Chenopodium
quinoa, which is largely cultivated in Peru, are among
the most important green crops in the countries where
they flourish. Sometimes the Atriplices, particularly A .
portulacoides, of our shores, grow in the pools of brackish
water, or the drains made along a muddy shore, and
then, not unfrequently, their stems may be found cloth-
ed with tufts of a delicate little sea-weed, Bostryckia
SGorpioides, the only one of
the FloridecB which is found
in brackish water. It seems
strange to find a genuine
sea-weed growing upon the
stems of a flowering plant.

A common little shore-
T^\2i\it,Glaux maritima, placed
by botanists in the same
family as the Primrose, is
interesting, not merely from
its beauty, but from its im-
perfectly exhibiting the cha-
racters of the order. In the
PrimulacecB there is general-
ly a well-formed and large
corolla, as is sufiiciently obvious in the various kinds
of Primrose, Auricula, and Polyanthus. In Glaux that
organ is wholly wanting, but a coloured calyx supplies

GL&US MA.RITIMA,

210 MARITIME PBlMULAOEiE.

its place ; in all other respects the little plant has the
structure of the family. It has creeping stems which
send up erect branches from two to six inches high,
with small, oblong, fleshy leaves in whose axils small
pink flowers are sessile. Each flower is five-cleft, and
contains five stamens and one style. The Common
Brook-weed (Samolus Valerandi), which grows in wet
places, is another Primulaceous plant, interesting both
from its structure and history. In form its flowers
resemble very minute primroses, but have a row of
rudimentary stamens alternate with the lobes of the
corolla, and the sides of the ovary are united to the
calyx. In both these characters it differs from other
Frimulaceoe. The point most curious in its history is
that it is one of a small genus, whose species are found
widely apart, and that it is itself a native not merely
of the shores of Europe and America, but also of South
Africa and New Holland, With the exception of Car-
damine hirsuta, perhaps none of our wild-plants, that is
not an absolute weed, has a wider range than Samolvs.
In places similar to where the Glaux is found, grow
Arenaria marina and rubra (if they be distinct), small
biennials with awl-shaped, opposite, fleshy leaves, and
starry purple flowers that open in sunshine ; each
flower with five petals, ten stamens, and three styles.
These little plants are associated by botanists with the
Chickweed, and also with Pinks and Carnations in an
order called CaryophyllecB. To the same order belongs
the Catchfly (Silene), a species of which [Silene mari-
tima), with bladdery calyces and smooth fleshy leaves,
grows along the margin of the sea.

VEGETATION OF SAND-DOWNS. 2ll-

Sand-downs, where the herbage is close and thick,
have often a very gay flora, composed of a great number
of plants. The surface is generally carpeted with white
clover, mixed with mosses, chiefly of the genus Tortula
and small, fine-leaved grasses, especially Nardus stricta
and some of the more wiry-leaved Festucce, with here
and there the characteristic Sand-reed. Such is the
composition of the greensward which forms the ground-
work of the piece. This is gaily ornamented with a pro-
fusion of the bright pink stars of Centaury (^Erythrcea),
several kinds of which are distinguished. These are
diminutive Gentians, with all the bitterness of foliage
and brightness of flower peculiar to that family of plants.
Among them may sometimes be seen their more ambi-
tious brother the Chlora, with his golden eight-lobed
crown ; but this is rarely found except where there is
limestone or chalk in the soil. Next we are attracted
by difierent varieties of Wild Pansies ( Viola tricolor and
y. luted), some of them blue, others yellow, and others
a mixture of these colours with creamy white. Then
Eye-bright, which, though diminutive, often indeed
dwindled down to a pair or two of leaves and a pair of
flowers, is still worthy both of its English name, and the
more sounding Greek Ewphrasia. Milkwort {Folijgala),
of three colours, white, blue, or red, abounds on such
ground ; as does also the singularly elegant Asperula
cynanchica, whose hair-like stems, with narrow leaves
in distant whorls support a branching tuft of white or
pink tubular, four-cleft flowers. This graceful little
plant is of the same family as the Madder (Bubia), and
the Ladies' Bedstraw [Galium), and is still more closely

212 EUPHOEBI^ OR SPURGES.

connected with a greater favourite tlian either, the
Woodruff (Asperula odorata). Several small species of
Clover {Trifolimii), some of them rare, are scattered
about. One of the prettiest of these, though not rare,
is T. arvense, or Hare's-foot Clover, a species with erect
wiry stems, narrow leaves, and long cylindrical heads of
flowers, clothed with soft silky hairs. These may be
collected for the winter nosegay, the silky heads re-
taining their form and much of their colour in drying.
Several wild Geraniums and Stork's-bills {Ei^odium)
abound, — the long finely-cut leaves of the latter being
more beautiful than the comparatively insignificant
flowers. The more bare patches of sand are frequently
diversified with scattered tufts of a half-shrubby Spurge
(^Euphorbia paralias), one or two feet high, with erect
stems, clothed with closely-set, oblong, somewhat fleshy
leaves, and bearing an umbel of greenish-yellow flowers.
Like all the Spurges, it contains abundance of an acrid
milky juice, which flows when any part of the stem or
leaf is wounded. Most of the Spurges grow in similarly
dry ground, in various parts of the world, and perhaps
nowhere are they found of larger size or of stranger forms
than in the burning sands of Africa. There the smooth
stem, clothed with thin leaves, which marks our British
kinds, is exchanged for a succulent stem, often destitute
of leaves altogether, or having those organs converted
into spines, or into lumpy bodies. The stem of some is
columnar, rising into trees twenty to forty feet high,
and bearing great naked branches like arms of gigantic
candelabra ; that of others is globose, or melon-shaped,
armed with spiny ribs and furrows ; and others again

CONVOLVULUS SOLDANELLA. 213

have a multitude of snake-like stems issuing from tlie
expanded crown of their roots. In others the root itself
forms the reservoir, being as large as a turnip or a beet ;
while an annual vegetation of soft leaves and flower-
stalks is all that rises above the surface of the ground.
All these varieties of habit are obviously designed to
enable these plants to endure the climate and soil for
which they are destined. Nourishment in some is stored
up in the leaves, in others in the stem, and in others in
the root, that they may have something to feed upon
through the burning days and dewless nights of an
African summer. Other plants contend with the diffi-
culties of their situation by other means. Thus, one of
the most beautiful of our native sand-hill plants. Con-
volvulus Soldanella, sends creeping stems under the sur-
face of the sand in all directions, and these emit from
the joints, or nodes, bundles of finely divided, hair-like
roots, that penetrate the loose soil, and ramifying as
they go along, are constantly forming mouths ready to
suck up every drop of water that penetrates the sand.
Besides this provision of abundant roots, its leaves,
though less fleshy than in some plants, are so in some
degree, and retain, in their tissues, moisture even in
seasons of drought. Along the sandy shores of other
countries, and throughout the tropics, are found species
of Convolvulus related to our C. Soldanella, and these
support existence by means of a similar system of creep-
inec underground stems and fibrous roots. But with
the soil the habit is varied; thus, in the arid plains
of Persia, where probably a stifi"er soil may prevent the
spreading of underground stems, there are species of

214 VEGETATION OP ROCKY GROUND.

Convolvulus forming thorny shrubs, not unlike our
furze-bushes. It is singular to see such rigid and dry-
looking sticks, yielding, in their season, flowers of the
same structure and delicacy as the beautiful Bindweed
of our hedges.

E-ocky ground along the coast has its peculiar plants,
but perhaps a less numerous list than that with which
the sands supply us. Of course I omit a large num-
ber which are not confined to the shore, though they
often mainly contribute to form some of the sweetest
of the minute pictures that abound along the nooks
and coves of the sea-coast. Primroses and Violets and
Wild Thyme, are as abundant by the shore as they
are in inland places, and so are Wild-roses. But there
is one species of Rose, JRosa sinnosissima, the origin of
all the garden varieties of Scotch Roses, which is most
abundant by the shore, growing either among rocks or
on the sands. In the latter situation it is often ex-
tremely stunted, its stems not rising more than two or
three inches above the surface, but even in that humble
condition crowned with the large milk-white blossom of
their kind. The leaves of this species are peculiarly
small and neat, and its stems densely clothed with slen-
der, spreading spines. On various parts of the English
coast, especially in the south, different kinds of Helian-
themum, or Rock-rose, cover maritime rocks, and are gay
the whole summer with ever-renewing troops of white
or yellow flowers, whose crumpled petals scarcely last a
day. The stamens of these plants are sensitive. If the
filaments be touched on the outside, near the base, the
tuft will be seen gradually to open till they lie down in

GRASSY PASTURES NEAR THE SEA. 215

a circle distant from the pistil. The distribution of the
British Helianthema is rather curious, from the scat-
tered localities in which the several kinds occur. In
Ireland there are only two species, one found but very
sparingly in the south-west of Cork, the other confined
to the Isle of Arran, on the Galway coast. In steep
places by the sea, and especially on mural cliffs, the
Tree-mallow {Lavatera arhoreci) is abundant in many
places. This is the most woody of the British Mallows,
forming an arborescent bush, six or eight feet high.
But, notwithstanding its woody character it is only a
biennial, and perishes after having once ripened fruit.
The Tamarisk [Tamarix), though not common in a wild
state, is well-known in gardens. It naturally grows by
the sea-side, and is by much the most shrubby of the
British coast-plants. Its long sprayey branches, clothed
with minute leaves, and bearing late in autumn dense
clusters of flesh-coloured flowers, are singularly elegant,
as they wave to and fro in the breeze. We have but
one native species ; but several others are found on the
sea-shores of Europe and Asia, and some characteristic
districts in the Steppes of Tartary, where these thin,
twiggy shrubs alone relieve the widely-spread desolation
and barrenness-
Grassy pastures near the sea are sometimes well stored
with small bulbous plants, which dot them over with
flowers, bright in their brief season. Early in spring
the Vernal Squill (Scilla verna), and late in autumn the
Autumnal {S. autumnalis), open their fairy stars of blue,
on tiny scapes, an inch or two in height. These are
common to many of our coasts. Another minute bulb

216 MARITIME BIEDS,

{Trichonema Columnce), the smallest British species of
the Iris family, occurs in one or two places* on the
south coast of England, where it finds, perhaps, its most
northern locality. It belongs to a genus whose species
gradually increase in number and in gay clothing as
you approach the sun, and which has its maximum at
the Cape of Good Hope, where many sorts, with rich
purple, golden, or milk-white flowers of large size, span-
gle the roadsides, or cover the barren ground near the
sea with a many-coloured sheet. Several of the smaller
Orchidece are found in similar places, especially Orchis
morio, whose dark purple flowers are among the first
heralds of summer, and Lady's-tresses (S'piranthes au-
tumnalis), which scents the grass in the hottest months.
In rambling thus along the shore, whether it be the
bold headland, the sandy down, or the flat beach that
engages our notice, plants are not the only objects that
arrest the eye of a naturalist. Ever and anon his
attention is attracted by the appearance of some bird,
either one of the regular denizens of the coast, or a pass,
ing visitant. The birds which we meet with near the
sea are so numerous, that (as I am not going to write a
bird-history) I shall not notice them all, and those which
I shall mention must be spoken of in a very cursory
manner. Many that visit wooded shores belong more
properly to woods and groves. The singing-birds are of
this description, with the exception of the Lark, which
frequents open pastures near the sea as much as those
further inland, and may be heard pouring out his shrill
melody above our heads through the live-long summer

* Dawlish Warren, Devonshire.

NATATOBES, OR SWIMMING BIRDS. 217

day. Several, which in their habits are strictly land-
birds, and never enter the water or feed on the products
of the sea, pass their lives in its neighbourhood, and
continually meet us on rocky coasts. Of these the
Chough or Cornish Crow (Fregilus graculus) is one of
the most remarkable. Its size is between that of a
Rook and a Jackdaw, but it is more shapely than
either, of a glossy blue-black colour, with bright red '
bill and legs. The bill is more slender than in others of
the crow family, and is remarkably curved, and sharp-
pointed. ^ These birds build in inaccessible crags and
cliffs along the coast, forming a nest of sticks, lined
with wool and hair, in which are laid four or five yel-
lowish-white spotted eggs. They feed on insects and
berries, and sometimes on grain. Like others of the
Crow tribe, they are easily tamed, if taken young, and
exhibit in captivity the same restless curiosity and love
of pilfering, and hiding what they steal, that mark the
Raven and Jackdaw. Montagu has given us an inter-
esting account of one of these birds which he kept for
several years in his garden, and which became exceed-
ingly bold and familiar. His account will be found
copied into Yarrell's admirable " History," — a source
from which I have not scrupled to draw in the short
notice that follows.

But the birds most characteristic of the coast belong
to the groups of Natatores, or Swimmers, distinguished
by having webbed-feet, which act as paddles in propel-
ling them through the water. This very extensive
group contains numerous families, several of which are
included in the British Fauna. At the head of the list

218 THE DUCK FAMILY.

are the Anatidce, or Ducks and Geese ; a family pecu-
liarly characteristic of high latitudes, from which vast
flocks annually migrate southwards, visiting our shores
in the winter months. Some remain with us all the
year, some only in the breeding-season, and others rarely
show themselves, except when driven here, as into a har-
bour of refuge, in a severe season. The habits of many
of this family are more lacustrine than littoral. They
prefer inland pieces of water, fens, &c., nestling among
the tall reeds and willows of the margin. But some are
strictly littoral in their habits. One of the commonest
of the - latter is the Shell-drake [Tadorna vu^mnser), a
strikingly, handsome species, with glossy-green head and
neck, a white collar, and a body diversified with patches
of chestnut, white and black ; bright-red bill and flesh-
coloured legs. The head is shorter and rounder than in
the common duck, and the bill is remarkable for a pro-
minence above, and a strong short hook at the extre-
mity. The Shell-drake frequents sandy places near the
coast, building in old rabbit-holes, and making its nest
of grass, often ten or twelve feet distant from the en-
trance. This habit has in some places obtained for them
the local name of Burrow-duck. Their commoner name
is perhaps given from their being accustomed to feed
on small mussels or other shell-fish ; or, as Mr. Yarrell
suggests, perhaps a corruption of shield-drake, because
this bird is frequently introduced into heraldry. Very
different in its colour, but somewhat similar in form, is
the Scoter (Odiemia nigra), a common winter visitant.
This bird has a uniformly black plumage, with black
bill and legs. The head is shaped like that of the

THE BARNACLE. 219

Shell-drake, but tlie bill wants the strong hook at the
extremity. It frequents the sea-shore in many places,
often in considerable numbers, and feeds on small shell-
fish and other molluscous animals. The flesh is oily,
with a strong fishy taste, and thus " being identified
with fish, it is allowed by the Romish Church to be
eaten in Lent and on fast-days ; and so great is the
demand for it, that many devices are in use on the sea-
coasts of [Roman] Catholic countries to obtain these
ducks for the use of the table." * Mr. Yarrell, from

* The statement here given, on the authority of Mr. Yarrell, is, I
have been recently informed, much too broad and unqualified. There
is no geimral rule of the Roman Church on this subject, but in certain
localities old customs of this nature have long prevailed, which are
permitted, but not enjoined. That the Barnacle was formerly eaten
in Ireland on fast days as fish, and that it may still be so used in
some remote parts of the island, is a common opinion ; and a learned
friend has pointed out to me a curious passage, to be found in an old
Dutch book of travels in Europe, " Zeer gedenkwaardige en naan-
keurige historische Reis-beschrijvinge door Vrankrijk, Spangie, Ita-
lien, Duitsland, Engeland, Holland en Moscovien, p. 445," published
at Leyden in 1700, of which there is a copy in the library of Trinity
College, Dublin, to the following effect. Speaking of Ireland, the
author says, " There are also many other animals, among which may
be remarked a sort of bird out of the marshes, called Barnacles,
which are produced in a wonderful manner. For they have neither
father nor mother, nor come forth out of any eggs, but out of the giun
of the fir-trees, which are common on the sea-shore. They are seen
first to open the mouth, afterwards to move the body, and as soon as
they feel themselves loose, fly into the air, or plunge into the water of
the marshes. The clergy and ecclesiastics of the kingdom eat of these
animals in the fasts, and give out that they are not produced from
flesh of any kind." In making these remarks I wish distinctly to
say, that nothing is farther from my thought, or would give me

220

THE MERGANSERS.

whose work I make this extract, gives an interesting
account of the stratagems employed for this purpose at
places on the French coast, where the pursuit of this
game is deemed so important as to be a matter of muni-
cipal regulation. At the end of the family of Ducks
are placed the Mergansers, of which we have four Bri-
tish kinds. They differ chiefly from others of the family
by the comparatively long and slender bill, furnished
with fine teeth along the edges and hooked at the
extremity. The form of their body resembles that of
other Sea-ducks, and their habits are very similar. All
our species are furnished with crests, or long feathers
at the back of the head. The Smew (Mergus alhellus),
the smallest and commonest, is a very elegantly marked
bird, white, diversified with black and grey ; a black
face, and slate-coloured bill, with a white neck and
breast, and a white head, all but the face and poll-
feathers, — the latter, forming the crest, being partly
greenish-black and partly white. The Red-breasted
Merganser (^Mergus serrator) is a larger species, painted
with equal variety, but in gayer colours. The head
and throat are of a rich shining green, the neck white,

greater pain, than to wound the feelings of any member of the
Church of Rome, in whose communion are included many friends
whom I highly esteem, and one to whom I am bound by the closest
ties of friendship. As to the matter in question, eating Barnacles as
fish, we must bear in mind that at the time the custom originated,
everj' one — including the naturalists of that daj' — firmly believed in
the marine origin of this bird. To a later period — the "Whale and
Porpoise were supposed to be fishes — and if their flesh also had
been eaten as fish, who would have questioned the propriety of the
practice ?

THE DIVERS. 221

except a narrow dark line behind ; at either side,
before the wings, are numerous large white feathers,
bordered by velvet-black ; the lower part of the neck
and breast is chestnut-brown, varied with dark streaks,
and the body and wings are elegantly diversified with
white, black, and brown feathers. The Goosander
{Mergus merganser), our largest sj)ecies, is found chiefly
in the northern parts of the kingdom, whose shores it
visits in winter. In its colours it somewhat resembles
the last, having a dark-green head and throat ; but
the upper part of the body is more uniformly dark,
and it wants the black-edged feathers in front of the
wing, and, instead of the mottled breast, the lower
part of the neck and under-surface of the body is a
reddish-buff.

These Mergansers naturally lead us to the Grebes
and Divers, or Colymhidoi, a family at once distinguished
from the Duck tribe by the long conical bill, and the
position of the legs, which are placed so far back, to-
wards the tail, that when the bird leaves the water
it stands nearly erect. The foot in the Grebes is only
partially webbed, the toes being deeply divided, and
merely winged with membrane ; but in the Divers we
find feet webbed like those of the Ducks. The Grebes
have long beaks, and long bodies, but short wings, and
an obsolete tail, and frequently long and dense feathers
on the neck, forming a thick ruff round the throat.
Their habits are more properly lacustrine than marine ;
they feed on small fish and aquatic insects, which they
take by diving, pursuing their game under water with
great agility. The little Dab-chick, so often seen in

222 THE GUILLEMOTS AND PUFFINS,

lakes and rivers, is the smallest and commonest of tlie
genus, and its habits give a correct notion of those
of the other species. The true Divers (Colymhi) most
strongly exhibit the habits of the family. Of these the
Great Northern Diver (Colymhus glacialis) is the largest,
and, when fully grown, the handsomest ; the upper part
of the body being dark, elegantly spotted with trans-
verse rows of white spots ; the lower surface white ; the
head and neck black, with greenish tints, and two ring-
like collars of mottled feathers. It is "a most expert
and indefatigable diver, and remains down sometimes
for several minutes, often swimming under water, and
as it were flying with the velocity of an arrow through
the air." It feeds on small fish, the shoals of which it
follows along the coast, and captures its prey by diving
after it. In the breeding-season these birds pass in-
land, and build their simple nest in some retired spot,
on the borders of a lake or inlet. They are very shy
at all times, and particularly at this season.

The family oi AlcadcB, consisting of Guillemots, Auks,
Razor-bills, and Puffins, contains several species that
pass their lives in swimming and diving after fish, or
in sitting perched on rocks in retired places of the
coast. All these are birds of social habits, and con-
gregate in vast flocks on the rocky islets and headlands
of our northern and western coasts, where the pursuit
of this game, either for the capture of the birds or
their eggs, is conducted with the appliances more of
savage than civilized life — the fowlers being suspended
in mid-air by slender ropes from the cliff. In the form
of the body these birds are very similar to the Divers ;

HABITS OF GUILLEMOTS. 223

the legs, whicli are short and thick, are inserted very
far back, and give a still more erect carriage to the
bird when on shore. The wings are short and small
in proportion to the bulk of the body, and in one or
two species so small as to be unfitted for flight. In
this, and other respects, there is an obvious resem-
blance between this group and the Penguins of the
southern hemisphere, in which the deficiency of wing,
and fish-like motions and habits are carried to their
greatest extent. The Alcadce of the north may, in-
deed, be taken as the representatives of the Penguins
[Sj^heniscidcB) of the south. The Common or Foolish
Guillemot (Uria troile) is met with at all seasons. In
breeding-time these birds congregate by hundreds and
thousands on the rocks that they frequent, which, for
the time, they and their associates convert into populous
bird-cities. Nor are these bird-cities limited to single
species. In May, when they begin to congregate. Guil-
lemots, Auks, Razor-bills, and Puffins, as well as Gulls,
visit the rocks in vast troops, and then begin such a
hubbub and flutter that you would think there was
going to be a fierce contest for the nesting-ground.
But, after much debate, the matter is amicably settled,
and the rock portioned out in ledges, one above another,
to the diflferent kinds. Here each lays its solitary egg,
on the bare rock, or with very little protection ; and
on these eggs the birds sit, with fearless fidelity for
the allotted time, in their peculiar erect posture. The
name " foolish" is given to the Guillemots because, whilst
hatching, they will rather suffer themselves to be taken
by the hand than desert their change. A rock thus

224 THE CORMORANT.

peopled from top to bottom with thousands of grave-
looking birds, while others are soaring and screaming
about them, is a very singular sight. The vast numbers
of these birds surprise us, too, when we remember that
each pair lays but a single egg. And such is also the
case with the Penguins of the south, and with several
other kinds of social birds. Nature has given them this
limited power of multiplication, and has not exempted
them from the usual number of enemies and accidents —
and their enemies, besides man, are many — yet the race
goes on still increasing. Is it their good temper or their
stolidity that favours increase in this extraordinary
degree t The young birds soon leave the rock, and,
long before they can fly, are found swimming in the
sea below, diving and catching fish like their parents.
Fishermen assert* that the young Guillemot, when about
to leave the rock, climbs on the back of its mother, and
is by her carried down to the water. The Puffin, or
Sea-parrot (Fratercula arctica) is a round, little, black-
and-white bird, with a singular parrot-shaped beak,
ribbed with orange. It frequents the same sort of places
as the Gruillemot, and its habits are similar, except that
it does not expose its egg without protection. Where it
finds holes, or crevices ready made to its use, it helps
itself freely to them, and will even disperse rabbits,
driving them out of their burrows. But when no holes
are to be found, the male-bird makes a burrow to the
depth of three or four feet, digging out the ground with
his strong bill. In this burrow is laid the solitary egg,
which is hatched after a month's incubation.

* Vide Waterton.

CATCHINa FISH IN CHINA. 225

Of the Pelican family (Pelicanidce) there are three
British species, the Cormorant, the Shag, and the Gan-
net. These are birds of much more active habits than
the last-named family, with bodies of more shapely form,
more ample wings, and stronger flight. Their most re-
markable characteristic is a surface of naked skin about
the throat, capable of considerable dilatation, so as to
serve as a pouch for conveying unswallowed food. This
skin in the true Pelican is developed into an enormous
bag. In its British representatives it is comparatively
but rudimentary. The Cormorant (Fhalacrocorax carbo)
is a dusky bird, with blackish body, lighter-coloured
wings, a crested pole, a yellow face, a long, slender-
hooked bill, and green eyes. It may be seen on most
parts of the coast perched on rocks, or sitting on the
ledges of mural cliffs, watching for fish. Occasionally,
in winter, it flies inland, and pursues its game in rivers
and lakes ; but its usual haunt is the rocky shore. It
is a most expert fish-catcher, and formerly in this
country was domesticated, and employed in taking fish
for its master. Old writers give many accounts of this
practice. In China, to the present day, an allied species
(Fh. si7iensis) is employed for the same purpose. I copy
the account given by a recent traveller in that country.
" There were two small boats, containing one man and
about ten or twelve birds in each. The birds were
standing perched on the sides of the little boat, and
apparently had just arrived at the fishing-ground. They
were now ordered out of the boat by their masters ; and
so well trained were they that they went on the water
immediately, scattered themselves over the canal, and

Q

226

CATCHING PISH IN CHINA.

began to look for fish. They have a beautiful sea-green
eye, and, quick as lightning, they see and dive upon the
finny tribe, which, once caught in the sharp-notched bill
of the bird, never, by any possibility, can escape. The
Cormorant now rises to the surface, with the fish in his
bill, and the moment he is seen by the Chinaman he is
called back to the boat. As docile as a dog, he swims
after his master, and allows himself to be pulled into the
san-pan, where he disgorges his prey, and again resumes
his labours. And, what is more wonderful still, if one of
the Cormorants gets hold of a fish of large size, so large
that he would have some difficulty in taking it to the
boat, some of the others, seeing his dilemma, hasten to
his assistance, and with their eff'orts united capture the
animal, and haul him off" to the boat. Sometimes a bird
seemed to get lazy or playful, and swam about without
attending to his business ; and then the Chinaman, with
a long bamboo, which he also used for propelling the
boat, struck the water near where the bird was, calling
out to him in an angry tone. Immediately, like the
truant schoolboy, who neglects his lessons and is found
out, the Cormorant gives up his play, and resumes his
labours. A small string is put round the neck of the
bird, to prevent him from swallowing the fish which he
catches."* The Shag (Fh. graculus) is very similar in
aspect and habits to the Common Cormorant, but is of
smaller size, and is at once distinguished by its uniform
dark-green colour. The Gannet (Stda alha) is more
robust than either of the Cormorants, with a shorter
and thicker neck, a large head, and a broadly conical,

* Fortune's China, pp. 99, 100.

THE GANNET. 227

very sharp and strong bill. The prevalent colour of the
full-plumaged bird is white, the tips of its wings only
being black, and some black lines about the face, resem-
bling eyebrows or spectacles. The naked skin of the
face is blue, the eyes pale yellow, and the head and neck
buflF-colour. The plumage of the young bird is very
different, being blackish, spotted irregularly with small
white specks. The habits of the Gannet are strictly
marine, and it breeds, like other sea-birds, on precipitous
rocks, where it forms a rude nest of reeds and grass. In
some localities, as on the island-rock of St. Kilda, and
others of the Hebrides, the Gannets congregate in vast
numbers. Twenty-two thousand birds, besides immense
numbers of eggs, are annually consumed in St. Kilda
alone, without seriously injuring the colony. The birds
are still so numerous there that it is supposed they
destroy annually a hundred millions of herrings. Their
mode of fishing is quite peculiar, and singularly grace-
ful. Hovering to and fro, with rapid flight, over the
surface of the sea, when it spies a fish swimming below,
the Gannet suddenly rises perpendicularly over the spot,
and then, closing its wings, drops head foremost on its
prey, with more than arrowy speed, and almost unerring
aim. It feeds entirely on fish, and chiefly on the various
kinds of herrings. Besides those captured for food, large
numbers are annually destroyed for the sake of the
valuable down.

The family of Laridoe, containing the Gulls, Terns,
and Petrels, has been incidentally mentioned in a former
chapter. It consists of a large number of species pecu-
liarly oceanic in their habits, and widely scattered over

228 GULLS.

the world. Many of tlie species, besides visiting the
shores of Northern Europe and Arctic America, extend
their flights to far southern latitudes, and some appear
to live constantly on the open sea, except when they
visit the shore in the breeding-season. All are remark-
able for the strength of their flight, and the easy grace
of their motions as they soar or glide through the air
with a scarcely perceptible movement of wing ; but
some are much more active than others. Their form
is elegant and well-proportioned : some, as the Terns,
resemble Swallows in shape and rapidity of flight ; and
others, as several of the gulls, seem analogous to pigeons.
Almost all undergo remarkable changes of plumage at
different ages, and some have also an annual change, the
colours at the breeding-season becoming darker. This
change rapidly takes place, without any moulting, the.
feathers of the head, which are originally white, gradual-
ly assuming a dark -brown or black colour. These birds
are mostly voracious feeders, seizing indiff'erently on
dead or living animal substances found floating on the
sea, or thrown up at the recess of the tide. Large flocks
both of Gulls and Terns are then busy with the Mollusca
and Radiata on the sands ; and at other times they may
be seen hovering over the water, on the watch for any
floating animal substance. This they perceive from a
considerable height, and secure by a rapid descent and
pounce ; sometimes by merely curving down and skim-
ming the surface ; at other times, by closing the wings,
and dropping suddenly under water. Both sexes in the
gulls have similar plumage ; but the males are known
by being of larger size than the female. Their cry is

THE KITTY WAKE AND SKUA. 229

peculiar, between a scream and a laugh, and, if heard in
their wilder haunts, among precipitous rocks, and dash-
ing waves, however discordant, is not unpleasing, when,
perhaps, it is the only sound proceeding from a living
thing that disturbs the solitude. Heard, as I have often
heard it, on the summit of cliffs eight or nine hundred
feet high, rising from the depths below, where each
individual bird looks like a floating speck of foam, it
gives a spirit to the scene that ever after attaches to the
recollection of it. Various are the species of Gulls that
breed upon our coasts, and various the stations they pre-
fer. The Kitty-wake [Larus tridactylus), so called from
its cry, prefers the highest and steepest crags, where it
perches its sea-weed nest on almost inaccessible ledges.
Others build on flatter shores, or less secluded places.
Some, like the Skua (Lestris cataractes), have been
called parasites, from their predaceous habits. " They
rarely take the trouble to fish for themselves ; but,
watching the Gulls while thus employed, they no sooner
observe one to have been successful than they imme-
diately give chase, pursuing it with fury, and obliging
it, from fright, to disgorge the recently-swallowed fish ;
they descend after it to catch it, and are frequently so
rapid and certain in their movements and aim, as to
seize their prize before it reaches the water." * From
the nature of their food all the birds of the family are
extremely oily, and many have the habit, when cap-
tured, of vomiting up quantities of clear oil, of a very
offensive smell, and this apparently as a means of de-
fence. The Fulmar {Procellaria glacialis), a large grey

* Yarrell, vol. iii. p. 603.

230 THE FULMAR.

and white species, that forms very populous colonies on
some of the remoter western islands of Scotland, and is
occasionally seen elsewhere, is remarkable for the quan-
tity of this oil which it disgorges. Yet, notwithstanding
its strong-tasted flesh, it is eagerly sought after by the
islanders, who annually consume many thousands of the
young birds, besides multitudes of eggs. In pursuit
of these the intrepid fowler has to ascend or descend
frightful precipices, or to hang suspended in mid-air.
The birds, according to Mr. Macgillivray, build only
on the steep faces of the cliff", where small patches of
grass here and there occur : " The nest is formed of
herbage, seldom bulky, generally a mere shallow excava-
tion in the turf, lined with dried grass and the withered
tufts of sea-pink, in which the bird deposits a single
egg, of a pure white colour when clean, which is seldom
the case, and varying in size from two and a half to
three inches in length, by two inches in breadth." The
smallest bird of the family, and the smallest web-footed
bird known, is the Storm Petrel (Thalassidromapelagica),
well known to mariners by the name of Mother Carey's
Chicken, and dreaded by them from its supposed appear-
ance immediately before a storm. In a sailor's supersti-
tion it is believed to rise out of the sea. This little creature
lives almost constantly at sea, except during the breeding-
season, when it visits maritime rocks, and unfrequented
parts of the coast, and there deposits its solitary %gg in
holes or crevices. It feeds on any floating animal sub-
stance, or on such small soft animals as it can master ;
and when at sea, may be seen constantly flying about
hither and thither, at a short distance from the surface,

MOTHER CARy S CHICKEN.

231

on the watcli for prey. Its name, Petrel, is given, Mr.
Yarrell tells vis, from its " habit of paddling along the
surface, from the Apostle Peter, who walked on the sea.'

STORM PETREL.,

The last little bird of which we have spoken ends
the list of our marine birds, and naturally suggests to
us a storm, as a storm does a shipwreck j and from a
shipwreck to floating pieces of timber, or drift-wood,
the passage is easy and natural. We shall now in-
quire whether such floating spars are worth examin-
ing. They often come ashore covered externally with
Barnacles, and pierced through and through by the
Teredo and Limnoria. All these animals have something-
interesting in their history. The Common Barnacle

232

"what otte etes have seen."

(Pentelasmis anatifera) has a fabulous history sufficient-
ly amusing, indicated by the specific name, anatifera.
Our ancestors believed that Barnacle-geese were the
offspring of these marine creatures : and worthy Master
Gerard gives a circumstantial account of the whole
process, and moreover prefaces it with a voucher, that

tellers of marvellous tales
are apt freely to offer, —
" What our eyes have seen,
and hands have touched,
we shall declare." Nor
is this all, for he favours
us with a figure repre-
senting the metamorpho-
sis going on. The Bar-
nacle belongs to a very
curious class of animals,
called Ciri'hipoda, which
combine the characters of
Crustacea and Mollusca
in a remarkable man-
ner, and, though usually
placed with the latter, are,
perhaps, nearer akin to
the former. The Barnacle
is lodged within a white
shell, flattened at the sides, opening by a slit down one
edge, and fixed on a soft, flexible, fleshy stalk. The
shell is composed of five pieces, joined together by mem-
branes. Within this coat of mail lies the soft body of
the Barnacle, with its head towards the lower end of the

PENTELASMIS ANATIFERA.

CIRRHIPODA. 233

shell, near the place where it is fixed to the stalk, and
its tail at the upper extremity. The tail is not unlike
that of a Crustacean, and is bordered on each side with
six lobes (representing the segments of the articulate
body of that class), each of which supports a pair of
long, ciliated arms, or cirrhi, the whole resembling a
plume of purple feathers. These cirrhi, when the ani-
mal is alive, are constantly in motion, projecting out-
ward, and expanding into an oval, concave net, then
retracting inwards, and closing upon whatever may have
come within their reach. They are so placed that any
small matter which becomes entangled within them can
rarely escape, and finds a ready passage to the mouth.
Very similar to the Barnacle is the animal of the Bala-
nus, whose shells cover, in scurfy patches, the surface of
exposed rocks, as well as drift-wood, or any other sub-
merged substance. These shells are usually white, shaped
like truncated cones, and composed of several ribbed
pieces closely fitted together, with an aperture at top,
closed by an operculum, and within this house the crea-
ture is lodged. Like the Barnacle, it puts out its arms
in search of food, though to a less extent. There are
many varieties of both kinds ; that is to say, of the
sessile and stalked Cirrhipoda. Some of the former, of
large size, form a lodgment in the coats of Whales ;
others lodge themselves in Corals or Sponges. The
habits of the race are very uniform. Once fixed, they
remain so during their lives, taking chance for subsist-
ence. In an early stage, however, they are free to move
from place to place, and are lively little beings, swimming
about with the speed of Water-fleas {DaiyhniGe), which

234

THEIR YOUNG.

active animals they resemble in many points. This
affords another link by which the Cirrhipoda are con-
nected with Crustacea. The young Cirrhipode bears

little or no resem-
blance to its ma-
ture condition. It
is about the tenth
of an inch long,
lodged in a pair
of shelly valves,
united like those
of a bivalve shell,
and large enough
to admit of the
whole animal be-
ing withdrawn in-
to them. This shell
opens in front, to
allow the animal to
extend its legs and
arms. It has two
long arms, furnish-
ed with a sucker
and hooks, and six pairs of legs, formed for swimming.
These are so arranged as to act in concert, and by their
simultaneous stroke on the water to drive the little
body forward in a succession of bounds. It has also a
tail, tipped with four bristles, and commonly folded up
under the body ; and it has a pair of large pedunculated
eyes. The whole animal is so like one of the humbler
Crustaceans, that it might well pass for one of them.

YODN& CIRKHIPODE, MAGNIFIED,

TEREDO, OR SHIP-WORM. 235

But the acute observer (Mr. J. V. Thompson) who first
discovered it, had the satisfaction of watching its
change from this active life to the sedentary state of
a Balanus, The animal fixes itself, the shell is gra-
dually formed, ciliated arms or cirrhi take the place of
feet, and the eyes are cast away, as being no longer
needed. Here we have another instance of what looks
like a retrograde developement ; but this apparent
anomaly is to conduct us to a division of the animal
kingdom in which the external organs are less perfect
than in the groups below them, but the internal or-
ganization, and especially the nervous system, is more
complete.

Barnacles attach themselves to the surface of ships'
timbers, and their pendant bodies, if sufiered to remain,
will materially obstruct the ship's motion or way. But
they do no further damage. There are, however, other
Mollusca, the Teredines, or Ship-worms, whose attacks
are far more fatal. These are not contented with a su-
perficial station, but seek a secure resting-place within
the log ; and, when once they take up their residence,
soon riddle the substance through and through, reducing
the wood to a mere shell. Any wood-work constantly
submerged is subject to their attacks, and it is asto-
nishing with what rapidity the work of destruction
goes on. Piles of solid pine-timber, of large size, have
been proved to be perfectly destroyed within five years.
The Teredo enters at any part of the surface, but soon
bends its course in the direction of the grain, and
forms a burrow some feet in length, and varying from
a quarter to half an inch in diameter. This he lines, as

236 ITS RAVAGES.

lie proceeds, with a shelly coat secreted by his mantle,
but without any attachment to his person. It is merely
a sort of plaster to the walls of his singular house. He
himself dwells at the far end of the chamber, enclosed
in a bivalve shell resembling that of a Pholas. The
long worm-like body which fills the burrow is merely
the extension of the siphonal tubes, which in this genus
are of great length. The organization of the body is
not very unlike that of other Conchifera,* and fluid
enters and is expelled through the siphons in a similar
way. By the older writers the Teredo was placed
among the Annelides, near Serpula; but this false po-
sition was corrected as soon as the nature of the animal
was understood : in modern works we find it associ-
ated with Pholas, to which its organization and habits
closely ally it. Its ravages have caused it to be ob-
served from very early times, and many large books
have been devoted to its history. Formerly, before
the practice of coppering ships became general, many a
stately vessel fell a sacrifice to its prowess ; and about
the middle of the last century fears were entertained for
the safety of Holland, the Teredo having attacked the
piles on which that singular country rests. Thus
navies can with difficulty resist the attacks of a little
creature apparently so unimportant ; and a country
that braved the power of Spain in h6r days of strength,
was well-nigh sinking under the gnawing of a worm.
On our own coast similar destruction is going on in
many places. No less than six species are included in
the British list of Teredines ; but the most undoubted
* See p. 34.

CHELUKA AND LIMNOBIA.

237

native of our shores is what is now called T. norvagicus,
the T. navalis of most British writers, though not of
Linnaeus. This species is of large size, and as active in
mischief as the true navalis. Mr. Thompson gives an
interesting account of the rapidity with which it has
destroyed wood-work in the harbour of Port Patrick ;
and, according to Mrs. Griffiths, the same species caused
the destruction of the bridge at Teignmouth. It has
been observed on various other parts of our coast, en-
gaged in its constant task, — reducing beams of timber
to dust, and undoing with persevering industry what
the " lord of the creation " is at most pains to do.

OHELnBA AND LIMNORIA.

In this task of undoing, the Teredo does not work
alone. The wood-work that escapes his auger may fall
to powder under the teeth of two minute Crustaceous
animals (Limnoria terebrans and Chelura terebrans), not
so big as a grain of rice, but as active as " the mother
of mischief" herself, and as untiring. These little

238 CHELTJRA AND LIMNOKIA.

creatures, wliicli resemble minute Wood-lice, or Shrimps,
attack, like the Teredo, any submerged wood-work, and
rapidly perforate it in all directions, till it is reduced
to a mere shell, ready to fall to pieces on the slightest
touch. The Limnoria, which is the larger of the two,
bores directly into the timber, piercing deeply nearly
at right angles with the surface ; while the Chelura
excavates obliquely, rather ploughing up the surface
than forming a deep burrow. Its work of destruction
proceeds with fearful rapidity, particularly where it
follows, as is often the case, its friend, the Limnoria.
The loosened surface is rapidly washed away by the
action of the water, and a new one exposed, to be in
turn ploughed over by the busy creature. Though the
means in action seem small, if we regard merely the
size of these destructive insects, yet, when countless
multitudes establish themselves in a beam, the untiring
play of their jaws soon reduces the most solid timber to
powder. Nor is it only constantly submerged timber
which suffers from them. They can endure to be left
dry at low-water, and the Limnoria has been kept
alive for a considerable time in its burrow by merely
an occasional moistening of salt and water.*

Among the objects which occasionally float ashore, or
drift about with the waves, are dark-coloured, roundish,
or spindle-shaped bodies, of the size and colour of grapes,

* Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 204 in note (6th edit.) An excellent
account of the Limnoria has been published by Dr. Coldstream, in
Brewster's Journal ; and Professor Allman has given us a most ela-
borate paper on Clielura, in which the structure of the animal is very
fully detailed, in the Annals of Natural History, vol. xix. p. 361.

MAEIKE GRAPES.

239

and hanging together in clusters. They are soft to the
touch, with a tough skin, resembling Indian-rubber ;
one end is produced into a sort of point or nipple, and
the other fixed to a fleshy stalk, which coils round sea-
weed, or other floating objects, and serves to fix the
berry-like bag in its place. These bags, are the eggs
of Cuttle-fish. At an
early stage they con-
tain a white yolk,
enclosed in a clear
albumen ; and nearer
maturity, the young
Cuttle-fish may be
found within, in va-
rious stages of forma-
tion. At last, when
fully formed, the
leathery bag is rent
asunder, and the
young Cuttle-fish en-
ters on his career.
Cuttle-fishes are, per-
haps, the most singu-
lar in structure of all
the marine animals we
commonly meet with,
and are interesting to
the naturalist in a variety of ways. If it were only
for the position which they occupy in our systematic ar-
rangements, at the head of the great group of the Mol-
lusca, and in close proximity to the Vertebrates, their

MARINE GRAPES,

240 CUTTLE-FISHES.

history would be important, from its exhibiting points
of union between these subdivisions of the animal king-
dom. In fact while all their salient characters are those
of Molluscous animals, and some of them are furnished
with shells formed like those of other Mollusca, there
are evident traces of an internal skeleton, which, in the
manner in which it is evolved and nourished, is exactly
analogous to the skeleton of a Vertebrate, in what may
be supposed its most rudimentary form. The prin-
cipal mass of nervous matter, or, as we may call it,
the brain, is lodged in an obvious skull : the eyes are
of a type of structure much more perfect than in any
other Mollusc, and approaching closely to the complex
structure of this organ in Vertebrates j it has a set
of olfactory nerves, and a well-formed ear ; and the
nerve of taste is well developed, if we may judge by
the vascular character and mobility of the tongue. In
all that constitutes the life of the animal, in his in-
ternal organs, his senses, and his intelligence, the Cuttle-
fish, therefore, approaches very closely to a Vertebrate.
Yet this creature has a body unlike anything we are
accustomed to meet with among the higher animals,
and whose similitude we must seek at the very base of
the animal kingdom, among the Polypes themselves.
In those lowly-organized creatures we found a bag-
like body, with a mouth at one end, surrounded by a
number of long arms, or tentacles, spreading round it
in the form of a star. Here we again meet with the
same type, or general idea, but in a state of advance-
ment perhaps the greatest that such a type of organi-
zation admits of: instead of being minute gelatinous

CUTTLE-FISHES. 241

creatures, such as the Hydra of our ponds, some of the
animals of which we now speak, if travellers' stories
may be trusted, more nearly resemble in their size,
terrific aspect, and destructive powers, the Hydra of
fabulous history. On our own shores there are many
species, not, however, of a formidable size ; but in
tropical countries, species are said to occur with arms
" nine fathoms long," * which do not scruple to attack
man himself, and to do so not merely when he is found
naked in the water, but often when passing in a boat,
which they sink with ease, by throwing their arms
across it. Once the Cuttle-fish fixes his hold, no effort
that a fish is capable of making can throw him off;
and the peculiar arrangement of the limbs, added to
their admirable structure, place the unfortunate prey at
the mercy of a singularly hard and sharp pair of jaws,
When the Cuttle-fish is at rest, he stands (like an
Echinus) on his head, with his mouth in contact with
the surface of what he stands upon ; and round the
mouth extends a circle of eight or ten arms, the whole
of whose lower surface is studded with circular discs, of
most elaborate structure, like so many cupping-glasses,
or rather miniature air-pumps. When the Cuttle-fish
wishes to fix himself to any surface, he merely brings
these discs in contact with it, and then, exercising

* " A friend of mine, long resident among the Indian isles, and a
diligent observer of Nature, informed me that the natives affirm, that
some have been seen two fathoms broad over their centre, and each
arm nine fathoms long. When the Indians na\agate their little boats,
they go in dread of them ; and lest these animals should fling their
arms over, and sink them, they never sail without an axe to cut them
off." — Pennant, Brit. Zool. vol. iv. p. 45.

B

242 CUTTLE-FISH INK, OR SEPIA.

voluntary muscles, he creates a vacuum under each
disc, and rests secure. If fixed on the back of a fish,
the mandibles are now brought into direct contact with
the prey, and rapidly devour it. It is in vain for the
tortured victim to fly through the water ; he carries his
enemy with him, till he sinks exhausted under its fangs.
In our Common Cuttle-fishes the suckers, or discs, hold
their prey simply by the power of suction ; but there
are species in which this fearful prehensile apparatus is
rendered still more perfect by a sharp hook fixed in the
centre of every sucker. These are probably intended to
retain soft and slippery prey, which might escape from
suckers of an ordinary kind. While thus formidable
to other animals, and amply provided with offensive
weapons, we hardly expect to find weapons of a defen-
sive character, such as the weakest animals depend
upon. Yet we must remember that the body of the
Cuttle-fish is soft and naked ; that, though well-armed
in front, it may readily be attacked in the rear ; and
that, unless when able to attach itself by the discs of its
arms, it is powerless to annoy. To escape, therefore,
when surprised, it resorts to stratagem. Nature has
furnished it with an internal bag, that secretes a large
quantity of a deep-brown fluid, which, on the approach
of danger, it can squirt out with force in the face of its
foe, and which, mixing readily with the water, forms
round the Cuttle-fish an opaque cloud, that puzzles his
pursuer, and favours his escape. This inky fluid, thus
useful to its owner, is often the cause of his destruction
by man, who applies it to his own purposes. It is
from this substance that the pigment called sepia, so in-

THE ARGONAUT. 243

valuable to painters in water-colours, is prepared. And
it is a curious fact (tested by Dr. Buckland) that the
contents of the ink-bag of fossil species retain all the
chromatic property, and have been used with success in
the arts. The sepia commonly in use is prepared from
an Indian species ; but the Cuttle-fishes of our own
shores yield an equally valuable dye.

No British Cuttle-fish possesses an external shell,
though furnished with an internal one, in the shape of a
horny or calcareous, lanceolate, or somewhat boat-shaped
body, lodged in a cavity of the mantle ; exactly analo-
gous to the shelly plates of such Mollusca as Aplysia
and Limax. But one of the most beautiful of all shells
— the Argonaut, or Paper Nautilus — is the coat of an
animal of this class, not very unlike a common Cuttle-
fish in form, and having an organization essentially
similar. Alas for poetry ! — the stories of the Argonaut,
believed for nearly two thousand years, are now ex-
ploded. Modern observers have clearly shown that the
Argonaut does not make use of its expanded arms as
sails, or its tapering legs as oars, or of its keeled shell
as a boat ; but, on the contrary, that it passes most of
its time crawling on the bottom of the sea, like a snail,
with its shell turned keel upwards ; and that when it
does swim through the water, as it can do with great
speed, its arms and legs are applied to purposes very
different from oars or sails. The arms (sails) are closely
pressed to the surface of the shell, which they cover
completely with a fleshy coat ; and the taper legs (oars)
are brought together, and directed in a straight line
from the head. And thus prepared for swimming, the

244 THE NAUTILUS.

Argonaut drives itself backwards at a rapid rate, by
alternate imbibition and expulsion of water through its
siphon. The Pearly or Chambered Nautilus is the shell
of another animal of this class, considerably diiFerent in
organization from the Cuttle-fish or the Argonaut, and
obviously of a lower type of structure. It essentially
differs from either in having four, instead of two, sets of
gills, and has therefore been placed by Professor Owen
in a distinct order, of which it forms almost the only
living representative. Very different, however, was the
condition of this order in the waters of the early world,
where species of Nautilus and of allied forms existed
in great profusion. Upwards of sixty fossil species of
Nautilus are found in British strata, with many hun-
dred kinds of Ammonites, Orthoceratites, &c., genera
which are no longer known to exist in a living state.
And it is exceedingly remarkable that our modern Nau-
tilus belongs to a generic type which has existed from
the earliest times, from which remains of animals of this
class have been preserved ; while many extensive genera
of similar animals of later creation have become totally
extinct. Thus, of the true Ammonites, or Snake-stones,
— fossils resembling the horns of Jupiter Ammon, and
which were inhabited by animals resembling the animal
of the Nautilus, — though many hundreds flourished in
times long posterior to the creation of Nautili, and none
were in existence so early as the first true Nautilus, not
one has come down living to the modern sea, and the
last members of the race were entombed in the chalk
deposits. The successive changes which have passed
over the animal and vegetable worlds in revolving ages

EXTINCTION OP SPECIES. 345

oflFer us subjects of contemplation of the most interesting
cliaracter, in which the mind is at one time carried back
to what has been " before the world was," and at others,
stretches equally forward to what shall be hereafter. In
tracing fossil remains in strata, deposited at successive
periods, we come to beds in which remarkable forms,
such as the Ammonite, meet us for the first time ; and,
having ascertained that none exist in any loiver bed, we
are forced to admit that, at the time when that bed was
in course of formation these creatures were first intro-
duced on the stage of life. All lower beds tell of a
creation existing before them, and the animals contained
in such are therefore older denizens of the world. Again,
having fixed the stratum in which the Ammonite first
appears, we examine the strata above it, and find the
number of those fossils gradually increasing, until we
reach a bed in which the genus attains its maximum; —
and thence we find a gradual diminution of species in
all superior beds. No new forms are introduced, but
the old ones drop off one by one, until at last the whole
race disappears — every species of the extensive group
being numbered with the dead. Nor is this a solitary
instance of what researches into the fossil world reveal
to us. It is the general lot of every organic being intro-
duced into the world. Not only are the individual
animals mortal, but the very species are destined to
destruction. Some types have a longer life than others.
The Nautilus still maintains its ground, though its
genus dates back untold ages before the creation of the
Ammonite, whose last representative must have perished
affes before the creation of man. We see the whole life

246 CREATION PROGRESSIYE.

of tlie Ammonite genus — and we can perceive, by its
diminished number, that the Nautilus is approaching
its close. But the circumstances which regulate the
extinction of the one or the other are unknown to us.
Changes of climate may now and then cause the destruc-
tion of a race ; but the extinction of species, and of
generic types, seems to proceed on too regular a plan to
be dependent on secondary causes, and must, I think, be
referred to laws originally imposed on each species at its
creation.

What those laws are, we can but conjecture. All
analogy favours the notion that creation has been pro-
gressive ; for everything about us tells of a beginning,
an upward progress, and a decline. And the history of
the earth, so far as we can decipher the hieroglyphics
written in its strata, furnishes evidence of such pro-
gress. Doubtless there was a time when "the world
Avas without form and void, and darkness was upon the
face of the deep," and doubtless the altered aspect of
all things springs from that Power which "moved upon
the face of the waters," and called forth light, and life,
and order, out of chaos. Ages rolled on, and new ani-
mals and plants were introduced, each, as it successively
appeared, a witness to the power, and wisdom, and per-
sonality of its Author. To His personality clearly.
For though we may admit that physical laws suffice to
explain the mutations of the mineral world, — the re-
gular succession of seasons, and the irregular action of
the earthquake and he storm, we cannot attribute to
physical agency the existence of organic life — itself the
clearest witness to a supernatural power. Every plant

CREATION PROGRESSIVE. 247

and every animal is, while its life endures, a personal
fellow-worker with the Deity, — not creating as He
creates, absolutely, but an author of relative creations
— an agent in His hand of changes which force merely
physical could never compass. The growth of cellular
or vascular tissue, whereby the body, once but a living
speck, becomes what God has destined it to become ; —
the internal action of organized bodies ; — animal will ;
— the reproduction of the species ; — all these are ut-
terly antagonistic to the physical laws of matter. They
are manifestations of that other agency — Life, an attri-
bute of the personal God : — and while the portion of
life committed to each lasts, the body performs its won-
drous functions. To life it owed its power of growth,
and when life is taken from it the laws of matter resume
their sway, and the organized body gradually returns to
its mineral condition. Take the lime, the phosphorus,
the sulphur, the carbon, and the other mineral and
gaseous substances, of which the human frame consists.
Chemistry demonstrates to us that of such and such
quantities of each of these a human body is composed.
She can decompose any organic frame into similar ele-
ments, but what power can build it up again from the
dust 1 Who can make the " dry bones live ? " Organic
life is therefore a witness to the power which works by
it, and that power is God. And organic life has been
progressive. In its earlier days the world was unfit
for the dwelling of man — how much unfit we cannot
tell ; and it was tenanted by a Fauna and Flora wholly
diiferent from that which the naturalist now sees about
him. Gradually the elder races died out and were sue-

248 CONCLUSION.

ceeded by new types, each successively more and more
like the present creation. Gradually, we may suppose,
the earth and air became more like their present con-
dition. At length " in the fulness of time " man was
introduced, destined to become the lord of this present
creation, and finally, the inheritor of a better world.
Whether man's race, like that of every other animated
being, be doomed to come to a close, it is not the pro-
vince of natural history to inquire ; but it seems to me
that no one who accepts as truth the doctrine of the
Incarnation, — and considers what that stupendous mi-
racle involves, — can look forward, as some speculative
minds have done, to any further developement of the
animal creation. Here, then, the naturalist reaches his
proper limits — the horizon that bounds his powers of
vision : — if he would still look further, and learn more
of his relation to his Maker, he must carry his researches
into other fields, and seek for

SSlumcn unt) Snitfitt,

©creift niif eincr anijein i?[Hr,
3n eincm a^^er^ Sonnfnlic^tc,

3n ciner gliidlidjcrn Sliniur.

®cf;incr.

INDEX AND GLOSSARY.

Abranchiate {Annelidas), 126.

AcaleplicB (Jelly Fishes), 183 ;
structure, 186 ; classification,
186 ; Puhnonigrade order, 187 ;
Ciliograde, 188 ; Physograde,
189 ; Cirrldgrade, 190 ; repro-
duction and metamorphosis, 192-
198.

Acephala, testaceous, {Conchifera,
or Bivalve MoUusca,) 34 ; struc- -
ture of animal, 35 ; habits, 37,
38 ; food, 39 ; structure of shells,
39, 40 ; classification, 40.

Acephala, tunicated, (see MoUusca
tunicata),

Acetahularia (a Mediterranean sea
plant), 62.

Actinia mesemhryantlwmimi (Com-
mon Sea Anemone), 50.

Actinia (Sea Anemonies), describ-
ed, 91 ; their structure, 92.

Adductor muscles, of a bivalve mol-
lusc, are those which hold the
valves of the shell together, see
page 36.

Agar-Agar (an East Indian sea-
weed), 75.

Albatross, 24.

AlcadcB (a family of sea-birds), 222,
223.

Alcyonium digitatum (Dead-men's
Toes; one of the Zoophytes of
the order Aster oida), account of,
47,48; alluded to, 151.

Alga, pi. AlgcB (Sea-weeds). A
large class of C'ryptogamic plants
inhabiting salt and fresh water.
An outline of their history will
be found in Chapter III., and
an account of some microscopic
kinds (DiatomacecB) in Chapter
VI. page 170, &c.

Algologist : one who investigates
the history of the AlgtB or Sea-
weeds.

Alva marina (Zostera), used for
bedding, 49.

Ambulacra : spaces on the shell or
skin of an Urchin or Star-fish,
pierced with rows of holes,
through which sucking- feet are
protruded, 42, ] 37.

Ammophila arundinacea (Sand-
reed), 12.

Amphidotus cordatus (Heart Ur-
chin), described, 41.

Amphitrite (one of the Annelides),
130.

Analogue, ~\ When two plants or

Analogous, > animals of different

Analogy. J orders or genera
resemble each other in habit,
or in some prominent character,
and appear to occupy a similar
position in the groups to which
they respectively belong, such
plants or animals are said to be
analogites one of another.

Anatidce (an order of Sea-birds, con-
taining Ducks and Geese), 218.

250

INDEX AND GLOSSARY.

AnneJides (Red-blooded Worms)
described, 125 ; classification,
126; Abrancliiata, 126; Dorsi-
hranchiata, 127 ; Tuhicola, 127 ;
various examples, 128-131.

Antltozoa (a sub-class of Zoophytes),
86 ; division into orders, 86 ;
examples, 87-94.

Aplysia (a Sea-Slug), 108.

Aphrodite aculeata (Sea Mouse)
described, 132.

Area (a genus of shells), 40.

Arenaria rubra, 210.

Arenicola piscatorum (Lug Worm),
127.

Argonaut, 243.

Armeria (Sea Pink), 207.

AscidicB (Sea Squirts), their his-
tory, 97, 98; compound, 98.

Asperulu cynandrica, 211.

Aster tripolium, 207.

AsteriadcB (a family of Star-fishes),
137 ; examples of, 138-141.

Asteroida (an order of Zoophytes),
86; described, 150; British spe-
cies of, 151-153.

B.

Bacillaria paradoxa (a minute
Alga), motion of, 177.

Balani, 50, 233.

Barnacle {Pentelasmis analifera)
229.

Beroe, 188.

Beta maritima (Wild Beet), 209.

Bird-cities, 223.

Bird''s-Jiead appendage of Cellu-
lar ice, 97.

Bivalve Molhisca (AcepJiala), 34,
&c.; classification, 40.

Bostryckia scorpiodes, 209.

Botany, pleasures of, 13.

BotryllidcB (a family of compound
Ascidians), 99.

Brancliice, \ The gills, or

Branchial-fringe, S breathing ap-
paratus of submerged animals.

Bryozoa (or Polyzoa, a sub-class of
Zoophytes), 86, d5 ; examples,
QQ ; affinity with AscidicB, 97.

Bryopsis plumosa, 61.

Buccinum undatum, 32 ; its pro-
boscis, 110.

CcdJbage, wild, 206.

Calliihamnion (a genus of sea-
weed), 72.

Carapace, the principal body-shell
of a Crab or Lobster, 156.

Cardium (Cockle), 40.

Caryophyllea Smithii, 93.

Chelura terebrans, its destructive
habits, 237.

Chiotie, 39.

Qiiton, 109.

CMorospermece (the green AlgcB),
56 ; structure, 57 ; distribution,
59; examples, 56-62.

Chondrus c!7'spas(Carrigeen), 73,74.

Chough (Red-legged Crow), 217.

Cilia, minute vibratory hairs found
on various parts, external or in-
ternal, of the bodies of the lower
animals,

Ciliograde, Jelly-fishes, 188.

Cirrhigrade, Jellj'-fishes, 190.

Cirrhipoda, a class of animals com-
bining the characters oiMollusca
and Crustacea, described, 232 ;
examples and history, 232-235.

Cladophora, 57, 62.

Climate, influence on vegetation,
66.

Cochlearia (Scurvy-grass), 207.

CocMe, its animal, 36.

Codimn lomentosum, 60.

ColymbidcB (a family of sea-birds),
221.

INDEX AND GLOSSARY.

251

Colymhus glacialis (Northern
Diver), 222.

Coimtula (Feather Star), 134, 135.

Conchifera (see Acepliala), 34.

Concliolo(jy, importance of, 101.

Convolvulus Soldanella, 213.

Convolviili (Persian), 213.

Coral-hanks^ 46.

Corals, 84.

CorallinecB (an order of sea-weeds),
75.

Cormorant fishing in China, 225.

Coryne pusilla, 87.

Crah, young of, 165; various kinds
of Crabs described, 161-1G4.

Cray-fish, change of shell, 157.

Cruciferous ■plants, 206.

Crustacea (a class of articulated
animals) described, 154; affinity
with insects, 154; their gills,
155 ; change of shell, 155 ; vo-
luntary dismemberment, 158;
varieties of form, 159; organs of
locomotion, 160, 161; examples,
160, &c.

Cuttle-fish, eggs, 239 ; structure and
history, 239-241 ; Sepia, 242 ;
fossil, 243.

Cyclohranchiata (an order of Gas-
teropodous Mollusca), 109.

Cyproea, 112.

D.

Dead-men''s Toes (^Alcyonium), 47.

Delesseria, 72.

Desmidiece, 1 7 1 ; Mr. Ralfs on, 1 7 1 .

DiatomacecB, 171-176.

Dog-fish egg (Mermaid's-purse),

31.
Dorsibranchiate Annelides, 127 ;

variety and beauty of, 131.
Drag, 119.

Dredge, Naturalist's, 117.
Drift-wood, 230.
Dunlin ( Tringa variabilis), 23.

E.

Echinidce (Sea Urchins), 43 ; affi-
nities and fossil species, 42, 43.

Echinus SphcEra (Egg Urchin), de-
scription and history, 143; struc-
ture of shell, 144 ; dental appa-
ratus, 146-148.

Ectocarpus (a genus of sea-weed),
71.

Encrinitis (Lily Stones), 133.

Enteromorpha (a genus of sea-
weed), 57.

Entomology, the history of insects,
16.

Epiphyte, a vegetable which at-
taches its roots to the surface of
another vegetable, for the pur-
pose of support, but does not
draw nourishment from the stem
it adheres to,

Eringium (Eringo), 206.

Eschar id(E (a family of Polyzoa),
206.

Eiij)horbia par alias, 212; African
species oi Euphorbia, 212.

Euphrasia (Eye-bright), 211.

F.

Fanciful systems, 2.

Fauna, a name applied by Linnaeus
to a history of the animals of any
particular district, as Flora is
used for a local history of plants.

Feather Star (Comatula), 134, 135.

FloridecB (see Rhodospermece), a
sub-class of sea- weeds.

Flustra foliacea, 44.

Foot-prints and marks on the sands,
25.

Foraminifera, minute shell-coated
animals, 180 ; examples of, 180,
181; their affinities, 182.

Fratercida arctica (Puffin), 224.

Fregilus graculus (Chough), 217.

252

INDEX AND GLOSSARY.

Frustule, a term applied to the
cells or articulations of the Dia-
tomacccs, &c., 172.

Fucus (a genus of sea-weed), 63 ;
its common species, 63, 64 ; va-
rieties of i*'. vesiculosus, 66.

Fidmar {Procellariaglacialis), 229.

G.

Gannet (Siila alba), 226.

Gasteropoda (a class of Molluscous
animals) described, 105; struc-
ture of animal, 106; tongue,
106, 107; classification, 107;
Pulmonibranchiate order, 107 ;
NudibrancMate, 108; Tectibran-
chiate, 108; Pectinibrancliiate,
109; Scutibra7icliiate, 109; Cy-
clobrancJiiate, 109 ; habits and
organisation, 110, 111.

Geology, pleasures of, 9.

Glauceum luteuni (Horned Poppy),
206.

Glauuo maritima, 209.

Goosand&r {Mergus merganser) , 220 .

Grassivrack (Zostera), 49.

Griffithsia corallina, 72.

Guillemot ( Uria troile), 223.

G^lls, habits of, 227.

H.

Habitat, the place in which a plant
or animal is found living.

Helicliondria celata, 29.-

Heart Urchins, 41.

Helianthemum (Rock- rose), 214,
215.

Heliantlioida (an order of Zoo-
phytes), 86, 91, 92.

Hermit-crab, (Pagurus), 112.

HolothuriadcB (Sea Cucumbers),
148; examples, 149; self-de-
structive habits, 150.

Horned Poppy {Glaucium), 206.
Hydroida (an order of Zoophytes),
86.

I.J.

lanihina, (Blue Snail-shell), 192.

Ichthyology, the history of fishes, 16.

Iodine, 64.

Isthmia obliquata, 171.

Jelly-fishes {Acalephai), 15 ; his-
tory of, 183 ; cause the phos-
phorescence of the sea, 184, 185.
(See Acale2)hcB).

K.

Kelp, an impure carbonate of soda,

obtained by buming/kci, 64.
Kitty-wake {^Larus tridactylus), 229.

La^encB, 180.

Laminaria, 53, 69.

Larids. (a family of sea-birds, con-
taining Gulls, &c.), 227.

Larus tridactylus (Kitty- wake),
229.

Lavatera arborea, 215.

LepralicB (minute Zoophytes), 9Q.

Lestris cataractes (Skua), 229.

Lichina (a genus of submarine
Lichens), 68.

Licmophora fiabellata, 172.

Ligament, a tough and elastic carti-
lage which connects the two
valves of a bivalve shell, and
serves as a hinge, 37.

Limnoria terebrans, destruction
caused by, 237.

Limpet {Patella'), 101 ; its tongue,
106.

LinntEus, 3.

Littorina littoralis, 25 ; degenerated
variety oi L. rudis, 103.

INDEX AND QLOSSAET.

253

Littoral zone, 5G,

Lobster, its movements, 161.

LiKernaria, 94.

Liuiina (a genus of shells), 41.

Lug Worm, 127.

Luidia (Lingthorn), its history,

139, 140.
Lutraria (a genus of shells), 40.

M.

Macrocystis, 69.
Madra, 37- 40.

Madrepore coral, its formation, 92.
Madreporiform tubercle of Star-
fishes, 141.
Maia squmado, 162.
Marine grapes, 239.
Mashed Crab, 163.
Medusce, 186.

Melanospermi(B (olive-coloured sea-
weed), 56-63.
Melobesia liclienoides, 77 ; other

kinds, 120.
Mergansers, 220 ; Red-breasted,

220.
Mergus albellus (Smew), 220 ; M.

merganser (Goosander), 221.
Mermaid''s Purse, 29.
Mesemhryantliemum, a genus of
plants with succulent leaves and
starry flowers, often called Fi-
coides, 91.
Milkwort {Polygala), 211 .
Mollusca — Mollusc and Molluscs
(the name given to a large class
of invertebrate animals, contain-
ing most shell-fish, slugs, &c.)
described, 100; Testaceous Ace-
phala, or Bivalve Mollusca, 34 ;
Tunicated Mollusca, 97 ; Gas-
teropodous, 105.
Motlier Gary's Chicken, 230.
Mussels, their habits, 105.
Mya (a genus of shells), 37.

N.

Nassa reticulata, ] 12.
Natica monilifera, 33.
Natatores (Swimmers, an order of

birds), 217.
Nautilus, 243, 244 ; fossil species,

244.
Nereoeystis (a great sea-weed), 69.
Nortliern Direr {Colymhus glaci-

alis), 222.
Nudihranchiata (an order of Gas-

teropodous Mollusca), 108.
NuUipores, 120.

0.

Oanveed, root of, 53. 69.
Oidemia nigra (Scoter), 218.
Old oyster-shell, history of, 28.
Ophiocoma (a genus of Star-fishes),

136.
Ophiura (a genus of Star-fishes),

136.
Ophiuridce (a family of Star-fishes)

136.
Orchis morio, 216.
OniitJwlogy, the history of birds,

16.

Padina Pavonia, 70.
Pagurus (Hermit-crab), 112.
PalmijKs (Bird's-foot Sea-star),

139.
Parasite, a vegetable or animal

which draws its nourishment

from another.
Patella (Limpet), 101 ; P. pellu-

cida and P. Icevis, 1 20.
Pavonaria quadrangidaris, 153.
Pecten (the Scallop), 39 ; animal

of, 35.
Pectinihrancliiata (an order of Gas-

teropodous Mollusca), 109.

254

INDEX AND GLOSSAKY.

Pedicellaria, 143.

PelicanidcB (a family of sea-birds),
225.

Pennatula pliosplwrea (Sea Pen),
151.

Pentelasmis (Barnacle), 231.

Perranzahidoe, 11.

Plialacrocorax (Cormorant), 225 ;
fishing in China with P. sinen-
sis, 225 ; P. graculus (Shag),
226.

Pliolas, habits of, 104.

Phosphorescence of the sea, 185.

Physalia (Portuguese man-of-war),
189.

Physograde, Jelly-fishes, 1 89.

Pinnotheres (a small kind of Crab),
164.

Piran (St.), 10.

Planaria, 123-125.

Plantago, P. maritima, and P.
coronopus, 208.

Plumularia cristata, 89.

Polygala (Milkwort), 211,

Polype, one of the individual ani-
mals of a Zoophyte.

Polypidom, the stony or horny
skeleton of a Zoophyte.

Pob/siphonia (a genus of sea- weed),
73, 74.

Polyzoa, or Bryozoa (a class of
Zoophytes with animals resem-
bling Ascidice), 86, 95.

Pkirphyra laciniata, 58.

PortiinidcB (Swimming Crabs),
162.

Procellaria glacialis (Fulmar),
229.

Pseudo, prefixed to words, signifies

Puffin, 224,

Pulmonibranchiata (an order of
. Gasteropodous MoUusca), 107.
Pulmonigrade, Jelly-fishes, 187.
Purpura lapiUm,its eggs, 33.

R.

Ralfs, Mr. on Desmidiese.

Razor-shell (Solen), 38.

Bay -fish, 29.

Bed Sea, its colour, 178.

BhodospermecB (or Floridew, the

red coloured sea- weeds), 56-71.
Bipple-mark, 26.
Bissoa (a genus of shells), 122,

183.
Bosa spinosissima, 214.

Sahella (one of the Annelides),
130.

Salicornia (jointed glass- wort)
pickle made of, 208.

Salpa, history of, 199.

Samolus Valej-andi, 210.

Sand-reed (Ammophila), 12.

Sands, wind-blown, 10 ; in Sligo,
11.

Sandy sea-shore, 21.

Scallop, animal of, 35.

Scilla verna and autumnalis, 215.

Scoter {Oidemia nigra), 218.

Scutibranchiata (an order of Gas-
teropodous Mollusca), 109.

Sea Anemone, 91, 92,

Sea-birds, 216.

Sea Cucumbers, 148.

Sea Lavender (Statice), 207.

Sea Mouse, 132.

Sea Pea, 13.

Sea Pen, 151.

Sea Pink (Armeria), 207.

Sea Slug, 108.

Sea Squirt, 97.

Sea Urchins, 97.

Sea-weeds, 13. 52-78.

Seaside plants, 205-216.

Season of rest, 67.

Sertularia, 87 ; S. filicula, 88 ; S.
operculata, 89,

INDEX AND GLOSSARY.

255

Serpula, habits of, 128.

Shag {Phalacrocorax graculus),
226.

SMI-drake, 218.

Shelly-sand, 180.

SMp-ivorm, 235.

Silene maritima, 210.

Skate-harrows, 29.

Skua {Lestris cataractes), 229.

Smew {Mergus albelbcs), 220.

Soleji (Razor-shell), 37, 38.

SpatangacecB, 48.

Species, decline of, 103 ; gradual
extinction, 245-248.

Spkacelaria (a genus of sea-weed),
71.

Spider Crabs, 161.

Spiranthes autumnalis, 216,

Spo7idylus (a genus of shells), 39.

Sponges, their structure and va-
riety, 81; eggs, 83.

Spores of Algcs, 83.

Squills, 215.

Star-Jishos, 42 ; history and classi-
fication, 132; skeleton, 138.

Staiice (See Lavender), 207.

Siorin Petrel, 230.

Siila alba (Gannet), 226.

Sun Star (Solaster), 138.

Swiimning Crabs, 162.

Tadorna vulpa (Shell-drake), 218.

Tamariae, 215.

Tectibranchiafa (an order of Gaste-

ropodous Mollusca), 108.
Tellina (a genus of shells), 39.
Tentacula, the soft arms or feelers

of the lower animals, generally

placed round the mouth : the

horns of a snail, &c.
Terebella (one of the Annelides),

130.
Teredo (Ship-worm), 235.
Terns, or Sea Swallows, 24, 227.

Testacea, the Linnsean name for the
shelly-coated Mollusca.

Tludassidroma pelagica ( Storm Pe-
trel, or Mother Gary's Chicken),
230.

Thrift (Armeria), 207.

Tkj/one papulosa, 149.

Tree, Mallow [Lavatera), 215.

Triclionema, 216.

Trifolium arvense, for winter nose-
gays, 212.

Tringa variabilis (Dunlin), 23,

Tubicola (an order of Annelides),
127.

Tubularia (a genus of Zoophytes),
87.

Turbinolia Milletiana, 93.

U.

Viva laiissima, 32.

Univalve Mollusca (Gasteropoda),

32, 105, &c.
Uria troile (Guillemot), 223.

Vegetation of sandy downs, 211 ;
salt marshes, 207 ; rocky soil,
214; grassy pastures, 215.

Velella (a genus of Jelly-fishes),
190.

Velvet Crab, 163.

Vetms (a genus of shells), 37-39.

Viola tricolor (Wild Pansy), 211.

Virgularia mirabilis, 153.

W.

Water-fleas (DauphincB), 155.
White, Gilbert, his history of Sel-
borne, 7.

Xantliidia, fossil, 176.

256

INDEX AND GLOSSARY.

Zoology, pleasures of, 1 4.
Zoophytes (a class of animals nearl}-
the lowest i]i the scale of organi-

sation, inhabiting the homy and
stony corals. Individually these
animals are called polypes, and
their coral apolypidom), 44. 84,
&c.
Zostera marina (Grass Wrack), 49.

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